Long Lost Family viewers are left in tears as a man is finally reunited with his birth mother

Long Lost Family viewers were left in tears last night after a man adopted at six-weeks-old was finally reunited with his birth mother 48 years later – only to be unable to hug one another due to Covid restrictions.

Jonathan Gaskarth, 48, from Birmingham, had a happy adoption and for most of his life, never felt the need to search for his birth mother or father.

But that all changed five years ago following the breakdown of his marriage which left him struck by what his birth parents must have been through losing him.

The father-of-three decided to search for his birth mother, Carol James, and with the help of the Long Lost Family team finally met her once again.

However, ITV viewers were torn at seeing the two unable to hug upon their reunion because of Covid restrictions in place at the time of filming. 

One viewer said: ‘How tough and how difficult it must have been for families to meet and not hug, shows how we need interaction with people #longlostfamily.’

 

Jonathan Gaskarth (pictured left), 48, from Birmingham, had a happy adoption and for most of his life, never felt the need to search for his birth mother (pictured right) or father

Long Lost Family viewers were left in tears last night after a man adopted at six-weeks-old was finally reunited with his birth mother 48 years later – only to be unable to hug one another because of Covid restrictions (pictured)

‘I never yearned for something that I didn’t have because I had everything I needed,’ admitted Jonathan when speaking about his adoption. 

‘I felt like my heart had been ripped out,’ he recalled. ‘It did make me wonder how hard it must have been for my birth parents to give up a child.

‘I don’t know what the situation was for them, but I wanted to find out,’ said the father-of-three.

With his adoptive parents’ support, Jonathan turned to Long Lost Family for help and the team traced his birth mother, now Carol Hosker, to Stratford-Upon-Avon. 

But that all changed when five years ago his own family unit split up following the breakdown of his marriage and he was struck by what his birth parents must have been through losing him. Pictured, Jonathan as a baby with his adoptive mother, left, and his adoptive father, right

The father-of-three (pictured) decided to search for his birth mother, Carol James, and with the help of the Long Lost Family team finally met her once again

Poignantly, when researchers accessed Jonathan’s adoption file, they found a letter Carol had written to him 10 years ago, to tell him that she longed to meet him.

When co-presenter Nicky Campbell went to meet Carol, she told him how she felt about Jonathan, admitting: ‘I’ve always loved him and that’s what hurts the most.

‘It’s the guilt thinking he wouldn’t know that I had loved him or that I had wanted to keep him.’

She said that when she gave Jonathan up for adoption she didn’t stop crying for a week, recalling: ‘I think it was just unbearable. It was the hardest sort of thing that I’ve ever done in my life.’

Carol was just 16-years-old when she fell pregnant, having met Jonathan’s birth father, her childhood sweetheart, at school. 

However, ITV viewers were torn at seeing the two unable to hug upon their reunion because of Covid restrictions in place at the time of filming. Pictured, Carol 

The birth mother, who said they both regretted giving Jonathan up for adoption, recalled: ‘He was a good person; he felt really sad and helpless really. We were both young and didn’t really know how to cope.’ 

After their son was adopted, the couple got back together and got engaged but tragically, Jonathan’s birth father died in a road accident aged 20.  

Co-host Davina McCall travelled to the Midlands to deliver the news to Jonathan that his birth mother had been found and, not only was she desperate to meet him, but she’d spent years waiting for him to come and find her. 

When he heard the news, he said ‘the first thing I’d like to do is make sure she knows there’s no resentment there.’

Having been told the sad news about his birth father off camera, Jonathan was moved to learn that his parents had been engaged prior to the birth father’s passing. 

With his adoptive parents’ support, Jonathan turned to Long Lost Family for help and the team traced his birth mother, now Carol Hosker (pictured), to Stratford-Upon-Avon

Poignantly, when researchers accessed Jonathan’s (pictured) adoption file, they found a letter Carol had written to him 10 years ago, to tell him that she longed to meet him

When co-presenter Nicky Campbell went to meet Carol, she told him how she felt about Jonathan (pictured), admitting: ‘I’ve always loved him and that’s what hurts the most’

Jonathan empathised with Carol, who went on to marry her husband Paul and have two children, Rebecca and Simon, saying: ‘That’s hard. I wanted them to go on…  to have happy lives. That’s tragic. I feel so sorry for her.’ 

The next day, Jonathan met them all for the first time, admitting: ‘It’s hard to put into words what that meant to me. It’s wonderful to know, you know, that you were never forgotten.’

Carol, who brought a box of letters she penned to Jonathan over the years, added: ‘To have all three of them together is wonderful.’ 

However, upon reuniting the two were unable to hug because of Covid restrictions in place at the time of filming. 

Reaction: Viewers were quick to react to the heartbreaking scenes after the mother and son were forced to follow social distancing rules

Entering the room where his birth mother sat, Jonathan said: ‘I can’t hug. I’m really sorry about that, because I would love to give you a big hug’

Viewers were quick to react to the scenes, writing: ‘Surely they could have tested them so they could hug?’

Another condemned the show, saying: ‘Long Lost Families is borderline cruel with them not being able to hug each other. I understand the reason but God love them – years yearning for that connection wishing them all the best for the future.’  

A third heartbroken viewer added: ‘No hugs allowed between mother and son reuniting is wrong.’

Another simply Tweeted: ‘Imagine not being able to hug your mum whom you hadn’t seen for 48 years #longlostfamily.”

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk