Ellie Simmonds' emotional search for birth mother

Ellie Simmonds has said tracing her birth mother for a TV documentary unearthed a lot of emotions.

The Paralympian from Aldridge, near Walsall, was born with achondroplasia and was adopted at three months old.

She discovered while filming for ITV her mother placed her for adoption shortly after the diagnosis.

"It was emotional, it was hard, [I'm] not going to lie," she said. "I've definitely found out more about myself than I probably would have thought."

The former swimmer embarked on her search after losing "a bit of me" on her retirement from sport in 2021.

"I thought, this is the right time. Who am I? I've got all these questions," she said.

Knowing she had been born in Glossop, Derbyshire, she located her casework in the annals of Derbyshire County Council.

Simmonds discloses in the documentary she went to live with a foster family when she was just two weeks old.

She said her birth mother had been told about the achondroplasia diagnosis soon after leaving hospital.

"She expressed concerns to the midwife that she felt that there wasn't bonding with myself and requested I be placed up for adoption," she said.

During filming, she learned her foster mother had since died, but her family told Simmonds that she had always been proud of her achievements.

In the phone call, they told the 28-year-old her foster mother had "loved and nursed" her as a baby, adding she "could not have gone to a better family" when she was adopted.

Simmonds also became tearful while drafting a letter to her birth mother as part of the documentary.

She "was not angry", she wrote, had lived an "incredible life" and hoped to get to know and understand her mother.

"She was a single parent, so you've got to try and place herself in her shoes," she said.

Although she described later meeting her birth mother as a "success story", she was mindful not everyone was so fortunate.

"A lot of people who go on the same journey don't get those questions answered and it's tough," she added.

She hopes the documentary will spark a wider conversation about adoption and disability.

"We saw, even 28 years ago reading my documents, that people with dwarfism were described as 'evil'... were probably going in the circus, not mentally with it," she said.

"I think still now in 2022, 2023, children in care [with disabilities] who are looking for families are seen as harder to place."

Simmonds said she was thankful for the support of her adoptive parents, who she said were always open about the circumstances of her birth.

"It's just amazing to bring a person into your family and to give love and to give care and nurture," she said.

Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family is on ITV at 21:00 BST.

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