Two women discovered they were switched at birth more than 50 years ago after taking DNA test
'I felt like an imposter,' Claire explained as she confessed to believing she was adopted due to looking nothing like her 'mother'.
In 1967, she was born at 10.20pm in a hospital in the West Midlands, England, and after her biological mom Joan cradled her for only a few minutes, it was time for her to let her baby be taken to the nursery in order to help Joan recover.
That night, shortly after midnight, Jessica was born, and again taken to be looked after by medical staff - it was common practice in the UK at the time.
Advert
Jessica and Claire are not the women's real names, but have been given to them to protect their anonymity.
Later that morning, the babies were accidentally switched, and despite Jessica's hair being fairer than everyone in Joan's family, she didn't suspect a thing - I mean, you wouldn't expect professionals to make such a cock-up, would you?
Fast forward more than 50 years, Jessica's brother Tony - who is biologically brothers with Claire, despite growing up believing Jessica is - was given a DNA home-testing kit for Christmas.
All he needed to do was spit in a test tube and send it off, which he did without ever thinking it would reveal anything of this nature.
Everything looked as it should at first glance, until he realized they misspelled his sister's name - it should read Jessica, not Claire.
With his dad passing away 10 years prior to the test, and his mom living on her own, he didn't want to panic Joan, and instead reached out to Claire to get to the bottom of this mix-up.
Tony explained to the BBC exactly what he wrote to Claire.
“Hi, my name's Tony. I've done this DNA test. You've come up as a full sibling. I'm thinking it's a mistake. Can you shed any light on it?”
Claire had done the exact same test two years prior to that, and revealed that she didn't quite understand her results - she had no connection to where her parents grew up, and had a first cousin she had never met.
Then, in 2022, she was notified that a sibling had joined her family tree - Tony.
Speaking about her childhood, Claire told the news outlet: “I felt like an imposter, there were no similarities, in looks or traits.
"I thought, ‘yes – I’m adopted'.”
When they broke the news to Jessica, she didn't take it well, with the BBC explaining she did not wish to be interviewed as part of the story, and Joan conceded that relationship with her daughter has not been the same since.
A day later, Claire met her biological mother Joan.
Reflecting on that moment, she said: "I looked at her, and I said, ’Oh my God, I've got your eyes! We have the same eyes. Oh my God, I look like someone!’"
While Joan added: “It just felt right.
“I thought, she looked just like I did in my younger days.”
Tragically, Jessica's biological mother, who had raised Claire, died earlier this year.
The NHS, the UK's publicly funded healthcare system, has admitted liability and will compensate the pair and all involved.
Joan explained that while Jessica no longer calls her 'Mom', Claire now does - with her biological daughter explaining they are now 'very close'.
Joan added: “It doesn't make any difference to me that Jessica isn't my biological daughter.
"She's still my daughter and she always will be.”
Joe Yates