Searching For Mum: Sri Lanka

More than 11,000 people who were born in Sri Lanka have been adopted overseas, many growing up with little knowledge of the people or culture they left behind. In this film, two women - both adopted as babies - as they return to Sri Lanka to try to find their birth families.

They are searching not just for their relatives, but also for their lost identity.

Thirty eight year-old Rebecca (pictured) was adopted from Sri Lanka when she was three months old, by a Sri Lankan couple living in London who worked hard to give her every opportunity they could, never telling her that she was adopted. For the first nine years of her life Rebecca thought that her adoptive family was her birth family.

One evening after school, Rebecca found the adoption papers in the airing cupboard by accident. Since then she has been trying to find the truth about her birth and the family who brought her into the world. The film follows Rebecca as she returns to Sri Lanka for her third search, accompanied by her husband Anton and their youngest daughter. Over two weeks, they investigate the government ministries, shantytowns and hospitals that might offer up some clue as to her mother’s whereabouts. Her story is a powerful insight into the question a lot of adopted people ask: Can I find out who I really am, by finding my family?

Twenty seven year-old Ria was adopted by a couple living in northern Scotland and had a very happy childhood, but always wondered what her life would have been if she had stayed in Sri Lanka - and what happened to her mother.  Within the documentation she has about her adoption she has a photo, as well as a paragraph saying her birth mother wanted no contact after the adoption.

As she travels back to Sri Lanka to search for the first time, Ria wants to find out what really happened. Her journey will take her to the heart of the adoption industry, where agencies and lawyers made millions of pounds from the fees they charged adoptive parents. Corruption and extortion were rife. What Ria will discover is a truth that will change her life forever.

By following two brave women on the most important journey of their lives, Searching For Mum will explore how ideas of family and roots - that so many of us take for granted - can become confused when you have no idea who brought you into this world and why they gave you away.

Publicity contact: KD