Irish pensioner discovers her daughter was switched at birth after DNA test

In Irish woman discovered that she is not the biological mother of her 52-year-old daughter after taking a DNA test.

Helen Maguire (71) left her baby with nuns to look after in the 1960s and has now discovered that they returned the wrong child.

She hadn’t given the baby up for adoption, but just to be looked after for six weeks.

The nuns, from the St Patrick’s Guild run by the Religious Sisters of Charity, are thought to have given her biological daughter to a married couple.

Helen’s daughter Christine Skipsey had never doubted her identity. However, in 2019, she and her mother read about the adoption scandals that Religious Sisters of Charity, among others, had been mired in. They decided to have DNA tests.

Helen had dark hair, while Christine had blonde hair and blue eyes, which was just enough to raise the question in their minds.

However, it was still a shock when the DNA results came back with and revealed there was a 99.9% certainty that the two were not biological mother and daughter.

Both were devastated by the news but insist they will always be mother and daughter.

Christine said: “I felt very lonely. I honestly never thought it would come back like that.”

Helen added: “I just couldn’t believe it. Christine will always be my daughter as far as I am concerned. She is still my baby and I love Christine to bits.”

They believe the only plausible explanation would be that the nuns gave Helen the wrong baby when she went to collect her daughter.

Helen is hoping to find her biological daughter, while Christine is keen to find her biological parents.

They have been in touch with the law firm Coleman Legal Partners, who have dealt with many cases relating to the St Patrick’s Guild scandal.

Take a look at the video below.

More popular articles and videos