Two families in the West Midlands are seeking compensation after a DNA test revealed two baby girls were switched at birth in an NHS hospital 55 years ago. Mr Tony, who took a DNA home-testing kit out of curiosity, discovered his supposed sister, Ms Jessica, was not biologically related to him. Instead, the test revealed a stranger, Ms Claire, as his full sibling. Further investigation confirmed Claire and Jessica were born in the same hospital around the same time.
Ms Joan, Mr Tony's mother, expressed her joy at having a daughter when Jessica was born in 1967. “It was a wonderful feeling, at long last having a girl,” she recalled to the BBC (Jessica and Claire are not their real names - both have been changed, to protect the women's identity)..
Using the messaging service from the DNA company, Mr Tony reached out to Ms Claire, who had also taken the same DNA test two years earlier. Ms Claire had experienced her own confusion when she received her results, having no connection to her supposed ancestry and discovering a genetic link to a first cousin she didn't recognise. Ms Claire, who had always felt like an “imposter” in her family, recalled thinking, “Yes, I'm adopted.”
Ms Claire was resolute in her desire to meet Mr Tony and their shared mother, Joan. “I just wanted to see them, meet them, talk to them and embrace them,” she said.
When Mr Tony finally revealed the truth to Ms Joan, she was desperate for answers. She recalled the night of Ms Jessica's birth with vivid detail: “They took me in on a Sunday… It snowed that day.” After holding her newborn daughter for just a few minutes, she was taken to the nursery, and the next morning, she was mistakenly given Ms Jessica instead of Ms Claire.
The families have since met, and Ms Claire has been integrating into her biological family. “It just felt right,” said Ms Joan, Ms Claire's biological mother. “I thought she looked just like I did in my younger days.”
The NHS trust has admitted liability for the baby swap, describing it as an “appalling error.” Compensation negotiations are ongoing.
Ms Joan stressed that her love for Ms Jessica, the woman she raised, remains unchanged. “She's still my daughter and she always will be.”
