Emotional moment woman, 74, who spent her whole adult life looking for the son she gave up aged 17 because of her strict parents is finally reunited with him on Long Lost Family

A woman has finally been reunited with the son she gave up for adoption when she was aged just 17 after spending her adult life searching for him. 

Retired council worker Paula Beer, 74, from Bridgend in Wales, was just a teenager when she made the heart-breaking decision to part from her baby due to her strict parents’ reaction.

Paula had concealed her pregnancy, working long hours in a grocery store in nearby Porthcawl, and only saw a doctor when she was eight months along. She gave birth to her son, Paul, in February 1967.

She spent just three days with him in hospital before he was taken away, and recalled to FEMAIL how giving Paul up for adoption was the ‘worst thing I’ve ever had to do in my life’.

But the pair were finally reunited on last night’s Long Lost Family – with Paula bursting into tears when she’s told Paul, now called Jim, has been discovered, before the two meet one another in equally emotional scenes.   

Paula, a retired council worker, gave her son up for adoption when she was 17 but spent most of her adult life looking for him

The pair were finally reunited on last night’s Long Lost Family – with Paula bursting into tears when she’s told Paul, now called Jim, has been discovered, before the two meet one another in equally emotional scenes 

Paula was a teenager at school in the 1960s when she started to go out with a ‘very good looking boy’. The couple ‘had a lovely time together, and it came to a natural end,’ revealed Paula.

But, at 17, she discovered she was pregnant, recalling: ‘I was frightened. I was out of my depth. I didn’t know what to do. Very ashamed for my parents, more than me, because they had always drummed it into me, “Don’t have a child out of wedlock”.

‘I didn’t tell anyone about the pregnancy. I kept it a secret, and I felt very, very lonely at that time.’

To conceal her pregnancy, she worked long hours in a grocery store in nearby Porthcawl.

Paula recalled in the show: ‘I worked here 10 hours a day, seven days a week. In my quieter moments, I had to work out a plan. What was I going to do, having him and bringing him up with my parents wasn’t an option. 

‘I had nowhere to live, nowhere to go. I came to the realisation that my son would have to be adopted, and that was enormous, you know, could I carry it out? Could I do that?’

At seven months pregnant, Paula went to stay with a kind aunt in Essex, who helped to arrange the adoption. 

She gave birth to her son, Paul, in February 1967 and spent three days with him before he was taken away to be adopted.

Paula revealed how, when she fell pregnant as a teen, she concealed her pregnancy from her loved ones

Paula revealed she lights a candle for her son every year on his birthday 

Frightened of her strict parents’ reaction, she had concealed her pregnancy, working long hours in a grocery store in nearby Porthcawl, and only saw a doctor when she was eight months along. Pictured, Paula’s baby

The retired council worker was aged just 17 when she made the heart-breaking decision to part from her baby due to her strict parents’ reaction. She then spent the rest of her adult life searching for him

Paula Beer (pictured), 74, from Bridgend in Wales, opened up about her search for her child

Paula (pictured left) gave birth to her son, Paul (now named Jim, pictured right), in February 1967, spending just three days with him in hospital before he was taken away 

‘From the moment I held him in my arms for the first time, the love I felt for him then was unbelievable. I didn’t think I would feel like that, and I knew I had to part with him, so I wanted not to feel like that,’ admitted Paula.

She also told of the moment she parted from her baby son for the final time before he was given to a temporary foster mother in Essex. 

‘I had him in my arms, and I knocked the door, and a lovely woman came and she said, “This is Paul’s room, where he’d be sleeping”. 

‘And she said, “I’m going to leave you now, and when I hear the door close. I know you’ve left. I will be here to to take over from you.” 

‘That’s when the pain came to a head. You know? That’s when the reality kicks in and I must have gone to put him down about two or three times. 

‘I was talking to him all the time, and I was saying, “hope you somehow or another, you know, the mother who brought you into this world loves you so much and that she’s doing this for you.  

‘”And just remember my voice. Please remember my voice. I love you, my son always.” And I put him down, laid him down, and I just ran, I think, down the steps, shut the door loud, so she’d go to him straight away, so he won’t be alone. 

After discovering she was pregnant at the age of just 17, Paula came to the conclusion on her own that she’d have to have her baby adopted. Pictured, Nicky Campbell with Jim

But thankfully, the Long Lost Family team located Paula’s son whose name had been changed to Jim, and found him living in the southwest. Pictured, Davina McCall with Paula

‘Was never spoken of afterwards. Was never ever spoken of,’ an emotional Paula explained.

Paula later went on to marry and have a daughter but didn’t anticipate the pain of giving up her son would cause her, for the rest of her life. 

‘Every year on his birthday I light a candle for him, and watch the candle burn and say a prayer and ask God: “please, God, let me find him one day”,’ revealed Paula ahead of finding her son.

Asking the Long Lost Family team for help, she emotionally explained: ‘I can’t ever expect love, but just knowing, seeing him, touching him, perhaps his hand, and knowing he has always been loved. For me that is everything.’ 

The Long Lost Family team eventually discovered Paul’s name had been changed to Jim, and traced him living in the southwest. 

It took Jim several months to decide whether he wanted contact with his birth mother, with the happily adopted psychiatric nurse saying on the show: ‘It’s kind of something I hadn’t thought about. It’s something I didn’t think I’d be doing. 

‘To get the letter was just a mixed range of emotions, from happy to scary to… you name it.

‘When I was 18, I can remember thinking, this is the day where I have the right, legally, to go and search for my mum if I wanted to, but at 18, your life’s just getting busy. 

‘So I just kind of put it away in the box, shut the lid, and then carried on through life,’ Jim explained, before admitting: ‘A few weeks back, I could have run away from it all, if I’m honest.

‘It was more, it’s been in a box for so long? Can I put the lid back on? And I don’t know if… and that was the bit I had to make the decision.’

But eventually Jim decided that he did want to meet his birth mother, and was delighted to discover she was Welsh, since he’s spent lots of time in Wales and loves it.

Paula breaks down into tears when told by co-host Davina McCall that her son has been found and that he wants to meet with her.

Looking at a picture of Jim, a tearful Paula said: ‘I love him already. I love him. Oh, he’s got a nice, kind face… So glad he’s happy. This is all my heart.’

Ahead of meeting her son, she insisted: ‘It’s the best day of my life, the very best day of my life.’

The two shared an emotional reunion on the programme last night, with Paula telling her son: ‘I’ve looked for you almost all my life. 

‘You’ve been with me, in my head, in my heart, your entire life and honestly, every single day, and every time I light a candle for you on your birthday, I pray that your life has been full of love.

‘All I wanted was the best chance for you, the best prospects,’ said Paula, to which Jim replied: ‘You gave it to me.’ 

Upon hearing this, his emotional birth mother said: ‘Thank you. You couldn’t tell me anything better than that. The pain’s gone away today, Jim.’

‘I’m really pleased,’ Jim replied. ‘Because that’s the last thing I’d ever you want you to feel. I never, ever thought badly of you.’

Following their experience on the ITV programme, the two now video call a few times a week.

Long Lost Family airs on Mondays and is available on ITVX