Andrew Baird Interview listen to the full interview by clicking on the link.

It was July 18th 1977, and Andrew Baird was celebrating his ninth birthday when he got sat down and told he was adopted. Growing up Andrew described his life as being ‘normal’, he lived in a quiet area within Kilmarnock as an only child to Alna and Andrew Baird. When being asked how he felt when he got told he said he felt ‘nothing’ as being that young he couldn’t process the information the way you would if you were older.

When he met his wife and had a family, he decided at the age of 45 he wanted to begin the process of finding his biological mother and father. He described the process as ‘easy’ he said; “firstly I contacted Birth Link who advised I should retrieve my adoption information from the National Records of Scotland in Edinburgh”. He said; “Six weeks later I was contacted saying my birth mother Marilyn had been found and she was living in Edinburgh, unfortunately my biological father passed away years prior”. Andrew said that Marilyn explained how his biological father ran away to London when she was pregnant and wanted nothing to do with it. Going deeper into the conversation Andrew said; “back then it was frowned upon to be pregnant and not married, my biological father wanted nothing to do with Marilyn nor me”.

When Andrew finally met Marilyn in 2014, he felt like the jigsaw had finally been complete he got to ask the questions that he had been waiting for answers for for the whole of his adult life. Andrew said; “Marilyn got told I had been taken to Kirkcaldy when I was a baby and she went there every weekend to check parks, community centres and cafes for me however, only found out when I reached out that I was actually taken away to Kilmarnock. Andrew explained that Marilyn went through ‘hell and back’ as when she gave birth she only had six days in the mother and baby unit until people from the Church of Scotland came and took him away.

Being able to finally re connect with his biological mother has meant he finally has closure and can begin to form a relationship with the women who gave birth to him.