Beatriz's Story

I was born in Portugal in 1994 into a life that was unstable from the very beginning. My mother was 32 when she had me, but she was rarely present throughout my childhood. My father was also largely absent, only appearing briefly when I was very young before disappearing completely.

I was mainly raised by my grandmother, who cared for me and my brother as best as she could. She was loving and did everything she could to keep us safe and together, but she was getting older and eventually reached a point where she could no longer manage to look after us.

Around the same time, my mother moved to Germany and never returned.

My grandmother made the heartbreaking but loving decision to place me for adoption, wanting a better future for me than she was able to provide. At around six years old, I was adopted by a couple who were initially kind. For a short time, I felt like I finally had a home and a family where I belonged.

As time went on, I began to feel out of place within their wider family.

Things became more complicated after my adoptive mother had a biological son, and although I loved my adoptive brother deeply, I started to feel less included and less wanted.

Eventually, I was removed from the family home and placed into care again. My teenage years in care were very difficult. I struggled with anger, instability, running away, drinking, and being heavily medicated.

I was trying to cope with trauma I didn’t fully understand while also feeling like I didn’t belong anywhere.

At 18, I moved to the UK and stayed with a friend’s family. For a short time, I felt wanted again and I experienced what it was like to be part of a family environment.

I loved it.

But things became complicated again, and I eventually focused on becoming independent. I started working and trying to build stability for myself.

As an adult, I met my long-term partner, and we have now been together for around nine years.

We have two beautiful sons together. Becoming a mother changed me.

The wanting to know where I came from resurfaced and made me start looking back at my own past in a different way.

I searched high and low for my biological mother for several years.

Eventually, I discovered she had passed away just weeks before I was able to make contact. She had lived in Germany and struggled with addiction, mental health issues, and had a very difficult life.

She passed away in March 2026 from cancer. Today, I am a mother.

My life has been shaped by loss, instability, and searching for belonging, but also by survival and resilience.

I have built my own family, the only family I was able to choose, and all I want is to give my boys the life I never had.

The family, security, stability, and love I always craved. I want my partner to know that no matter how difficult I am, I love everything about him.

This is my story.

A story I am proud of and will be writing about, soon publishing.