A Grim Taboo From The 1960s Gets Exposed After Two Long-Lost Siblings Are Reunited

The tale of David McBride and Helen Ward is one that wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood movie, but their tragic experience was as real as it gets. It all unfolded on a British TV program titled Long Lost Family — a show that helps bring scattered clans together. And though the show has seen dozens of separated families come together for emotional reunions, you’d be hard-pressed to name a case more heartwrenching than this one. 

A real tear-jerker

It all started back in 1962 when a baby boy was abandoned inside a vehicle on a bitterly cold evening. Then, in 1968, a similar story emerged about a little girl deserted in a phone booth. Incredibly, the same parents were responsible in both cases. But it would take decades for the pair to learn the disturbing truth, finally connect, and start hunting for answers.

Meeting David McBride

To better understand the troubling case, let's take a closer look at what happened to David McBride. As we noted before, he was abandoned inside an automobile parked on the edge of Belfast in Northern Ireland. The youngster was tucked up in a duffle bag sporting a red tartan pattern, with only a tiny fluffy cover to keep him warm.

Freezing conditions

You see, David had been dropped off on a cold January evening in 1962. That poor baby! Thankfully, he wasn’t outside for long, as the owner of the car stumbled across the bag — and got the shock of her life! She contacted the authorities, who took him to the city hospital.

Front-page news

These events garnered a lot of attention at the time, with the Belfast Telegraph newspaper dedicating a section of its front page to the story. Anyway, David was eventually taken in by a family living in the city and grew up in a loving household. But his life changed forever when he decided to enroll in the army as a teenager.

A significant discovery

David, who was 15 years old at that point, needed to provide his birth certificate as part of the application process. And that’s when he saw that there was no definitive date of birth on the document. Instead, it read, “On or about Jan 6.” Understandably, that left the teen scratching his head in confusion.

Foundling

So, David brought it up with his adoptive dad, who then broke the news. He revealed that his son was a foundling — a term used to describe youngsters who are taken in by different families after their folks abandon them. When he was picked up, there was no way for a solid birthdate to be confirmed without knowing who his mom was.

Taking a guess

Instead, circumstances dictated that hospital staff had to make a rough estimate. It was believed that David had been about two weeks old on that fateful evening: January 16, 1962. Anyway, to say that teenager was shocked by these revelations would be a huge understatement.

“Your view of the world changes”

Looking back on that, David spoke to the Daily Mail newspaper’s website in September 2021. The Belfast native said, “It meant that for the first couple of weeks of my life someone fed me, clothed me, kept me warm, loved me, someone genuinely cared. Suddenly your view of the world changes slightly. You feel a wee bit lost, to be truthful.”

“I’m sad that it happened”

David also shared his thoughts during the Long Lost Family episode in an emotional outpouring. “I’m sad that it happened,” he notes. “I’m sad for myself that it happened in the manner that it [did]. But I’m also sad for my mother. Because it must have been heartbreaking for her.”

Pain and confusion

“I don’t understand why after 14 days [my mom] suddenly decided she couldn’t cope with me anymore,” David adds. “Why [did] this happen to me?” You can’t blame him for feeling that way, right? But despite all the pain and confusion, he decided to press ahead with a search for answers as the years went on.

A very public appeal

David even shared his pleas in a TV campaign back in the early 2000s. Surely that’d help the foundling’s cause? Well, no: unfortunately, no new information came to light. So the mysteries of who his folks were and why he had been abandoned continued to hang over his head. 

Say hello to Helen Ward

Mind you, as we mentioned earlier, David wasn’t alone here. Someone else shared his drive for answers about their own past, having been abandoned as a baby, too. Yet in a shocking twist, that person turned out to be his sister. Her name is Helen Ward, and her story is just as fascinating.

How she was found

Yes, in March 1968 baby Helen had been wrapped up just like her older brother: inside a tartan holdall. But she wasn’t dropped off in a stranger’s car. Instead, this time the youngster had been abandoned in a phone booth in Dundalk, Ireland. Later found by a truck driver, the infant thrived despite her tough start and soon she, too, was adopted.

Complete honesty?

Now, Helen’s parents were pretty honest with her regarding the adoption as she got older: it wasn’t kept secret. With that being said, though, they did hold a few details back, the important one here being that she was, in fact, a foundling. In the end, it all came to a head in a conversation, upon which she reflected to the Daily Mail.

“So many questions”

Helen said, “When I was 17, I asked my dad for more information, and he said, ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’ But of course, you can’t. There are so many questions. My birth mom especially was always in the back of my mind. I thought of the hardship she’d gone through giving me up and I had this huge need to know who she was.”

Visiting the adoption agency

That drive was only strengthened after Helen welcomed her own kids into the world. And it all culminated in a hugely significant moment in 2003 when she called into an adoption agency in the Irish town of Drogheda. The parent was optimistic that her birth mom’s name was on record there, unaware of the painful truth.

The truth

Yep, Helen couldn’t find a name. “Child found exposed” was the lone phrase written on her birth certificate. Just like that, she’d uncovered her foundling status — and it hit her hard. David’s sister opened up about her mindset at that time during the Long Lost Family episode, shedding a few tears along the way.

“Broke my heart”

Helen recalls, “I had gone in with such hope because it meant so much to me to find my birth mother. It broke my heart that day I left. Absolutely broke my heart.” Despite the setback, though, she didn’t intend on giving up. In fact, on the day that she turned 44, the mom contacted an Irish radio station.

A surprising connection

Just as David had done on the small screen years before, Helen shared her story over the airwaves, hoping to make a breakthrough. Would she have better luck? Well, sort of. To the surprise of everyone, the man who discovered her in the phone booth in 1968 called up the station, which led to an unexpected reunion.

Finding Helen

The trucker’s name was Donal Vaughan, and he went on to recall the events of that day to Helen face-to-face. As Helen later reported to newspaper the Daily MIrror, apparently, when Donal got closer to the phone booth, a woman quickly burst out of the door and hopped inside a vehicle. That had to be her mom, right? He believed she had been keeping watch until someone discovered the baby.

End of the line?

Donal’s theory was backed up by the fact that the baby had been left with a warm bottle of milk beside her. But unfortunately, nothing else came from the public appeal over the radio. It looked like Helen had reached a dead-end. Years later, though, everything changed.

A remarkable coincidence

Aware of improvements in DNA-matching technology, Helen decided to undergo a test and submit the results to an online database in 2019. Who’s to say she wouldn’t get lucky? Well, in a rather fortunate turn of events, David’s information also found its way to the same place a few months later. Yet it wasn’t him who had put it there. 

The breakthrough

You see, Long Lost Family’s production team were responsible, after David had turned to them for help. Anyway, once their DNA matched up on the database, the foundlings finally had a relative. They weren’t alone! And given that this had happened more than once, might there have been more siblings out there?

“One of the greatest gifts I’ve ever had”

Unsurprisingly, David could barely contain himself when he heard the news. But something else then started to eat at him. As he told the Daily Mail, “Finding I had a sister was probably one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever had. At the same time there was also sadness, knowing that she had gone through the same difficult journey as me.”

The first meeting

The long-separated siblings came together towards the end of 2019 near the Irish border. And it goes without saying that their first encounter proved to be a highly emotional moment. Tears flowed, and lots of them! Helen described her reaction that day on the Long Lost Family episode soon after, outlining how unusual the situation had been.

“It’s a miracle”

Helen beams, “It’s just unbelievable. When you sit there and look at your brother. It’s a very strange and exciting feeling. After 51 years it’s a miracle.” Amazing as that was, though, two huge questions remained unanswered at that stage. Who were their parents? And why had they abandoned them?

Solving the mystery

Well, thanks to the tireless work of the show’s production team, it all started to come together for Helen and David. The answers that they had sought for decades were finally within their grasp. But it wouldn’t be an easy listen: the unearthed story about their folks was tinged with sadness and controversy.

Helen and David’s dad

David and Helen’s dad hailed from Dublin, Ireland, plying his trade as a store manager. He was supporting a huge family back home with his wife: they had no fewer than 14 kids. Here’s the kicker, though. Note how we didn’t refer to his spouse as the foundlings’ mom — well, that’s because she wasn’t.

A shocking affair

As it turned out, the dad was cheating on his wife with another woman. Incredibly, that forbidden relationship lasted for close to four decades. And out of their love for each other, David and Helen were welcomed into the world. Still, this wasn’t the most controversial aspect of their story.

Religious divide

Yes, we know what you’re thinking: what could possibly overshadow a decades-long affair? We’ve got one word for you — religion. Helen and David’s folks didn’t share the same beliefs. Their dad was a Protestant, while their mom was a Roman Catholic. Back in 1960s Ireland, that would’ve been a massive taboo.

Understanding the taboo

You see, there was a lot of hostility and friction between the two religious groups during that period of the country’s history. So, David and Helen began to realize that this wasn’t just a simple case of parents abandoning their babies: there was more to it than that. And they couldn’t help but sympathize with their mom in particular.

“A very lonely situation”

Helen told the Daily Mail, “It must have been a very lonely situation she was in, and it must have taken a huge amount of thought to give us up for the man she loved. But perhaps it was the only way.” David then said, “I think we both have this sadness for [our mom].”

The parents’ fate

“It’s very hard to put yourself in the place of our parents in ’60s Ireland and the choices they had to make,” David added. As for what happened to them, their dad was 82 years old when he passed away in 1993, while their mom lived on to 90. Sadly, she died unmarried a few years before her kids’ reunion.

Another huge twist

What a gut-punch! But weirdly, the next big twist in this remarkable tale showed signs of emerging on a trip to the mom’s final resting place. Yes, after seeing the grave, Helen cast her mind back to a chat she’d had with a reporter. This had been a short time on from her radio appearance. During their talk, he spoke of another Irish foundling.

More siblings?

This baby had been discovered in Drogheda in 1965, sandwiched between David and Helen’s births. Back then, the latter didn’t think anything of it. Yet since reuniting with her older brother, she couldn’t help shake the feeling that this kid might’ve been a third sibling. 

“Lost her marbles”

David said, “I thought Helen had lost her marbles at that point. But when I did some research there were only three reported cases that I could find anywhere in Ireland over the ’60s of children being abandoned. And Helen and I were two of them.” So did their parents have one more child?

John Dowling

You bet they did! Yep, the baby from Drogheda was in fact David and Helen’s brother. His name is John Dowling, and just like his sister, he was abandoned in a phone booth. And the bombshells don’t stop there. John’s daughter was the one who came forward, after she watched the Long Lost Family episode in Australia.

A beautiful whirlwind

Donna Dowling encouraged John to undergo a DNA test, while also getting in contact with the show. Once the match was confirmed, the three siblings then came together over the summer of 2021. Plus, Long Lost Family dedicated another episode to this unexpected twist, which aired that September. 

“Natural and easy”

As for the meeting itself, it couldn’t have gone better. Helen said, “It was very natural and easy. I think that’s the biggest feeling out of all this, there’s no barrier between us. We talked about everything, our past, our feelings. It’s amazing to find people who know exactly how you feel.” And they’re together at last: what a journey!