Cara and Mel with their dad, Michael
A woman who grew up in a care home has discovered her inseparable
childhood friend was in fact her half-sister – after a 50 year search
for her biological father.
Cara Jane Farrar Peterson, 52, says she finally feels like she “belongs somewhere” after discovering the blood ties with Karen Smith, 51 – thanks to the Jeremy Kyle show.
Mum-of-seven Cara, from Scarborough, has struggled to find the
identity of her father, because mum Linda Powell was married six times
and hospitalised with a mental disorder during Cara’s early teens.
Cara grew up in care with older sister Mel, whose father Michael Farrow refused to accept he was her dad.
But the truth was finally confirmed on the ITV show this week – and
she was overjoyed to find Michael also had two other children,
including her old school friend Karen.
Cara said: "It's just an indescribable feeling - I've missed out on so much.”
"It's been difficult and I've missed out on a lot of things with Karen.
"It's just changed who I am, I always felt like a lost soul and I finally feel like I belong somewhere."
"I just wish I could go back and have stayed close to my half-sister because I really had nothing.
"It's like we always had a connection, even though we didn't know we were actually sisters."
Cara and Karen were inseparable at school.
Cara said: “I’ve always been a bit of a loner. But Karen would
defend me and we always got along really well. It’s like we always had a
connection, even though we didn’t know we were actually sisters.”
The pair lost touch when Cara was taken into care but they
reconnected via Facebook in 2015 and Cara noticed a striking similarity
in pictures – prompting her to believe they could be related.
A family friend managed to secure Cara's official birth certificate
while compiling a family tree earlier this year and her father's name
was listed as 'Christopher Archer'.
But she was convinced Michael Farrow, Karen’s dad and the father of her own older sister Mel, could be her real dad.
Michael, 75, had been told by her mother Linda, 74, in 1966 that he was not the father to their second child.
The couple had already had first-born Melanie Webb, 54, but Linda
confessed she was having an affair at the time of conceiving Cara.
Cara and Melanie, who Cara believed was her half-sister for 52
years, ended up "in and out of" children's care homes after their mother
had a mental break down.
But DNA results on the Jeremy Kyle show revealed Michael Farrow was
her dad, Melanie was her full sister and Michael's other daughter Karen
was her half-sister.
She said: "There was someone else on my birth certificate - I was 30 by the time I could get a bank account, driving licence and passport.
"No one knew who I was and in those days you needed that sort of stuff.
"DNA wasn't around was it, it was different times."
Adding: "I felt like a bloody Alien or something, and that's what I would tell people."
Michael was overjoyed with the DNA result when it was revealed on the show.
Presenter Jeremy Kyle praised the Cara and Mel for their strength
and the bond they share and was pleased to announce to them that they
were full sisters.
Cara, who volunteers at a charity shop, said: "My mum never wanted me at all and I say I do not have a mother.
"I don't call my mother mum anymore - she's dead to me.
"I've never had an identity, I've never had a birth certificate
or really known where I came from. I now know that my sister's dad is
my dad and Melanie is my full sister.
"I also have a new half-brother and half-sister - my mum hid it from me all that time.
"I've missed out on a lot of things, I missed out on Karen's wedding and other family events.
"I have loads more nephews now - a family wedding is a family event and I wish I had been there.
"I just feel like after 52 years I finally know who I am - it's changed my whole life."
Source: The Sun UK
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