Anna's Speech

I have my own special reason to be thankful to Dad. After he and Jose had Christian they were advised not to have any more children but decided that to complete their family they would adopt a baby girl. That was me! During my childhood I had this fairytale notion that there was huge room full of pink cots and Mum, Dad and Christian walked up and down for hours looking at the all the babies until they eventually chose me. I was always told that I was somehow special as I had been ‘chosen’. I’ve since found out of course, to my huge disappointment, that this wasn’t how it was done at all but it doesn’t change what I believe! However I was chosen, it really doesn’t matter.

What does matter though is that Christian and I were always treated exactly the same and I never felt anything other than a much loved daughter, sister, granddaughter and niece. When our mum died when Christian was 10 and I was 6, Dad worked so hard, with the help of our two grandmother’s, a very special auntie, and then Joan, to provide us with a stable, secure and loving family life.

He kept an adoption file of letters and photos from my birth Mother so that when I started asking questions, as he knew I would, it was all there for me to see. And just to show what a remarkable and selfless man he was, when, at the age of 28 and after having had my second baby and curiosity getting the better of me, I asked him how he would feel if I traced my birth mother, he welcomed the idea with open arms as he did my birth mother when they met a couple of months later.

Not many people get to choose their daughters, but my Mum and Dad did and I am eternally grateful to them both