40 years to find my birth father

40 years to find my birth father

From Life Changing by BBC Radio 4

May 13, 2026 · 29 min

About this episode

Karine Burns shares her 20-year journey to find her birth parents after being adopted.

Growing up, Karine Burns always knew she was adopted, and that her mother had been sent over to the UK from Ireland. Karine had a joyous childhood, loved dearly by her Scottish parents. But after the arrival of her first child, she started to think seriously about her birth mother - about how hard it must have been to give a baby up for adoption, so far from home. Her mammoth 20-year search for her birth parents involved passionate appeals, detective work and rejection - until a breakthrough changed everything, just in the nick of time… Karine tells her incredible story to Life Changing’s Dr Sian Williams. Producer: Tom Alban.

People in this episode

Host: Dr Sian Williams

Guest: Karine Burns

Topics covered

  • adoption
  • family
  • identity
  • search
  • personal journey

Keywords

  • adoption
  • birth father
  • search
  • identity
  • personal story
  • family

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4

Places: Ireland, UK, Scotland

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