Desperate mum who gave son up for adoption 28 years ago finds him on Facebook

Newcastle, England:  A mum who gave her son up for adoption 28 years ago has finally been reunited with him - after tracking him down on Facebook.

Lesley Thompson put her son James up for adoption when he was just five and later discovered he had immigrated to New Zealand with his new family.

After fearing she may never see her son again, Lesley launched a desperate search. But it was only thanks to Facebook that eventually led to the 53-year-old finally being back in contact with James.

Lesley, from Benwell, Newcastle, told the Newcastle Chronicle: “I have been searching for James for a long time and had done everything I could think of until I met somebody on Facebook who said he would be able to help.

“He tracked James down and gave him a message from me to get in contact. One day I turned my computer on and I had a message from James. At first I thought somebody was having a laugh but it turned out to be him.

“I still can’t believe it - I’m buzzing.”

The search has held added significance for Lesley, who lives with daughters Jacqueline and Carly.

Her first son, Darren, was taken out of her care by social services and, when she tried to contact him, found he had tragically died of an overdose.

Lesley used this as added motivation to find James, now 33, as she did not want to live knowing she didn’t know either son.

“I was in a violent relationship when I had Darren,” Lesley explained. “This meant that when I had James I needed to have a hospital assessment, but in the end he needed to be adopted.

“When we’re talking he calls me mum and says he’s always wanted to be back in touch. At first we just used to send messages but now we are talking on webcam.”

For Lesley, the next step is face-to-face and her ambition is to fly out to see James, sooner rather than later.

She said: “I want to meet him in person before it’s too late because you never know what’s around the corner.

“I don’t think James is capable of flying over to the UK on his own due to a bad accident he had when he was 16 so I was wondering if anybody out there would kindly give donations to help pay for my flight to see him.

“It would really made my day and dream come true.”