Long Lost Family continues with episode 4, and follows one woman – Rachel Burch – as she searches for her Jamaican-born birth father.
Rachel, now 50, grew up in a white family and stood out in the small, West Sussex village where they lived. She turns to Long Lost Family for help finding her birth father, but she’s also yearning to find any family member whose lived experience has been like her own.
Sadly, bullies targeted Rachel at school, as a result of her mixed-race heritage. She’s desperate to find “the half of her that’s missing”. But can hosts Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell help find her any answers?
Rachel Burch searches for her dad on Long Lost Family
Rachel, who now lives in Southborne, West Sussex, has worked for the NHS for the past 27 years as an Operating Theatre Practitioner. She is married to Clive, and a step-mum to his three children.
She was born in the early 70s in Wolverhampton to an English mum, and a Jamaican dad – who she hasn’t seen since she was around 18 months old.
Rachel says: “I don’t have any memories of him at all. I don’t have any photos, and don’t know what he looks like. I never knew his name, only his nickname Limpy. I’ve been told that I was wanted by him; it’s just that Mum and my dad went separate ways. I always used to ask my mum who my dad was, and what his name was, but she didn’t divulge that information. I found that hard as I got older.”
When Rachel – an only child – was four, her mum met someone new, and they moved to a small village in West Sussex. Rachel says: “When I came here, I was the only person of mixed race. My hair was very curly, my skin was much darker. It was a very middle class area. I was picked on at school. It’s hard, when you’re five you just want to fit in. I think I did try to run away from school after someone had been cruel. There was lots of bullying, lots of name calling.”
After decades of wondering, Rachel finally attempts to track down her dad with the help of ITV.
Rachel Burch on Long Lost Family: ‘Where is my dad, and where did he go?’
During Long Lost Family (Monday, July 24, 2023), Rachel asks: “Where my dad? Where did he go? Did he still want to see me? Did he still think about me? Because I’ve always thought about him. He’s always been in the background.”
Some 10 years ago, Rachel finally found out her father’s name – Errol Dawson. It’s a starting point for the search. But sadly, Rachel is dealt a devastating blow.
The team of researchers on Long Lost Family discover that Errol Dawson died 20 years ago. He had died aged 52, in Liverpool. Talking about her dad’s death, Rachel says: “I knew he might not still be alive. But I want to know if I’ve got siblings, and if I’ve got a family I don’t know about. I feel like half of me is missing.”
A potential match to Rachel’s DNA is eventually found – Sian Evans in Liverpool, who is 28. Sian is Rachel’s half-sister on her dad’s side. But, like Rachel, Sian didn’t meet her father either.
Rachel says: “I’ve been searching for someone who’s the same as me. And I’ve found her.”
Long Lost Family episode 2 – Sue Davis searches for long-lost brother
Meanwhile, Sue Davis has been looking for her brother ever since her mother died five years ago. Her mother Molly gave her first child up for adoption after his American serviceman father went home following World War Two.
Molly had a baby boy from a relationship with an American soldier she met working in a wartime canteen in Winchester. The baby was adopted because, at that time, “you just couldn’t be pregnant outside of marriage”.
Afraid of rejection, she asked daughter Sue not to look for her son until after her death. Years later, Sue – based in Farnborough, Hants – duly takes up the search on behalf of her late mother.
Long Lost Family continues on Mondays at 9pm on ITV1.
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