Mother's 50-year heartache is over

Betty Jones meets her daughter Sue Parsons after 50 years

BBC Wales's Taro Naw programme looks at the moving story of a mother who gave away her daughter 50 years ago to be adopted.

The programme coincides with the UK government's plans for reforming the laws of adoption to make it easier for prospective parents.

Last week, Welsh Assembly Member Jackie Lawrence talked of her own heartache at giving up her daughter as a teenager.

Betty Jones, from Llanrug, near Caernarfon, had not seen or touched her daughter since giving her up for adoption in 1949.

Re-united: Mother and daughter hug each other

The remarkable tale of how they were re-united began with a message posted on the internet by a young man in Australia.

The message sought information about a teenager who had given birth to a child back in the late 1940s from the Nant Peris, in the Ogwen Valley, near Llanberis, north Wales.

A local man read the message and remembered as a child hearing stories about an illegitimate baby.

Alive and well

The Australian man who wrote the message was the son of Betty Jones's long-lost daughter, Sue Parsons.

Taro Naw became involved in the story and Mrs Jones was found to be still alive and living in sheltered housing.

Since giving birth to Sue, Mrs Jones had twice been married but had not had any other children.

The programme put mother and daughter in touch by telephone and then arranged for them to meet face to face in Wales.

Taro Naw also explored the deeper questions of adoption and the government's interference over the years in policy-making.

Taro Naw is broadcast on Monday night at 2100BST on S4C.