Paralympic Champion Discovers Birth Mom Gave Her Up Due To Her Dwarfism But Recognized Her When She Won Olympic Gold

Jul 13, 2023

Adoption is a more common practice nowadays than it used to be in the Middle Ages. The practice is believed to have roots in antiquity. It was quite popular for families to adopt their sons into noble families to establish a connection, similar to how marital alliances were forged to keep power and wealth within families. 

Several families who lacked sons adopted from other families to preserve their economic, political and religious power. Hence, adoptions of female children were not common. This practice continued until the Byzantine age but receded in the middle ages when Italian and French laws discouraged it. Meanwhile, English common law forbade it because the purity of the bloodline was considered sacrosanct. 

Adoptions have become popular once more, with many state legislations formally backing it. Massachusetts was the first state in the US to allow adoption legally in 1851. New Zealand followed in 1895, and the UK passed it into law in 1926. Since then, more people have become open to it, and millions of children have been adopted worldwide. 

However, adopted people still face certain challenges, including the problem of deciding whether to seek out their birth parents. Many have gone on to brave the unknown and received differing results. While some are embraced by their birth parents, thereby gaining new family members, others have been rejected a second time. 

Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds couldn't have gotten a better result. The athlete documented her search for her biological parents in a documentary published by ITV on July 6, 2023. It showed how she traced her birth mom to get answers to the questions that had always been on her mind. Keep reading to know more about their encounter. 

Simmonds always knew she was adopted, but she didn't try to look for her birth parents for a long time. She didn't let it trouble her and only continued to explore and use her abilities to the fullest. 

The athlete was given away for adoption when she was just two weeks old. Simmonds' parents separated when her mom found out she was pregnant. When she gave birth, she was convinced there was a problem with her baby, but the hospital staff reassured her everything was alright. 

However, some days later, medical professionals diagnosed Simmonds with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. The new mom asked that her baby be put into foster care, and just two days after that, she asked that her new daughter be put up for adoption. 

Simmonds was placed in foster care before she was adopted by Steve and Val Simmonds when she was 3 months old. She grew up in Walsall as the youngest of five children. Simmonds fell in love with swimming at 5, although she also enjoyed riding horses and doing ballet. 

By the time she was 8, she could swim at the same pace as her agemates, who were of average height. When Simmonds was 13, she won two gold medals after competing in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing and became a national star in the UK. The gold medallist retired from sports in 2020 and had time to reflect on many things, including her birth parents. 

In her documentary, she said: "Until now, it's never emotionally affected me, it never made me feel rejected or ask why do my birth parents not want me. I've been so focused on the future and never thought about it." She added, "One of the reasons for being given up for adoption is because of dwarfism."

Simmonds began her search for her biological parents from the records of the Derbyshire County Council. Her story was filmed for the documentary published by ITV on July 6, 2023, titled "Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family."

Meanwhile, the 28-year-old phoned her foster mom's family and learned that the woman had died but was always proud of her achievements. She also discovered the fact sheet given to her mom by the hospital, which read that children with dwarfism "tend to deal with evil and stupidity."

Simmonds told This Morning on YouTube: "I was very naive to start off with. I was very much like, 'oh, I will like to find out more information about myself' … never thinking I'll actually get a chance to meet her." 

After Simmonds found her birth mom, she initially wrote notes to her. Her mother replied to her and said, "I've suffered with guilt and self-hatred for not being strong enough to cope." 

Simmonds initially planned to meet her mom for about 15 minutes. However, when both women met, they burst into tears and cried for a long time. Then, they burst into laughter and spent five hours catching up. 

The retired swimmer shared that she and her mom had the same sense of humor. She also discovered that her mom already found her when she appeared on TV at 13 and won the Paralympic gold in Beijing. Simmonds also still had the first name her mom had given to her. 

"What touched my heart was she said she thinks about me every day, and she still sees me as her daughter," she said of the experience, adding, "It's helped with finding out who I am, looking at someone who birthed me, the nature I'm from, it makes you a bit more whole."

What do you think of Ellie Simmonds' story? Does her attitude inspire you? Let us know — and be sure to pass this article on to friends and family members.