Jacqueline O’Reilly used to scavenge from bins to feed herself and her brother
Sean and Jacqueline O’Reilly when they were children(Image: Jacqueline O’Reilly)
A brother and sister who were cruelly separated while growing up in the social care system of the early 1980s have been reunited after 45 years. Jacqueline O’Reilly, 52, and her younger brother Sean were just nine and seven when they were placed in different foster homes, forbidden from ever seeing each other.
In June this year, Jacqueline made a heartfelt appeal in The ECHO, desperate to find her younger sibling. She said: “Me and Sean were like twins. When I was a child I used to rummage through the bins looking for food, and try to feed him. I was like his mother. I was five and he was three, and we were always together.”
This led to a miraculous reunion as the article was noticed by Sean’s daughter Abby Rose. She alerted her dad, who then contacted Jacqueline on Facebook.
After several months of chatting and getting to know each other online, the pair finally reunited in person on Sunday, December 14.
Jacqueline, who grew up in Southport and now lives in Leyland, said: “After The ECHO put the article out I got a message from him on Facebook and he said ‘I think you might be looking for me’. Initially I was a bit sceptical. He said his daughter had seen the article and told him ‘I think this is you’.
“It was as though he’s never been away from me. He’s exactly the same as I remember. I always said we were like twins, and looking at him is like looking in a mirror at a male version of myself.
“Everything he’s done throughout his life I did at the same age, which was odd. We had children the same year. We like the same foods. He had a dog called Molly, I had a dog called Molly. His daughter is called Abby Rose, I have a Caitlyn Rose. The list goes on and on.
“When he walked through the door we both expected to be nervous and we weren’t. It was like we’d never been apart. We had a great day, we had food, he brought Christmas presents for me and I gave mine to him, and it felt so natural and not forced at all. With Sean, it felt like he’d never been away.”
Jacqueline O’Reilly and brother Sean reunited after 45 years apart(Image: Jacqueline O’Reilly)
Jacqueline and Sean were just five and three-old when they were taken into the care of St Gabriel’s Convent in Woolton in 1978. A dark cloud hung over the children’s home, and in February 1998 a voluntary worker, John Christian, was jailed for sexually abusing young boys over a period of two decades.
When she was nine, Jacqueline was moved from St Gabriel’s to a new home in Southport. Meanwhile, seven-year-old Sean was also moved by social services. The separation took a terrible toll, as both children developed behavioural problems which led to the break-down of their respective first foster homes.
Incredibly, Jacqueline learned Sean, now 50, had always been just barely out of reach, growing up within minutes of her own home.
She said: “We literally grew up seven minutes away from each other. I knew him straight away. Before we met, if I had bumped into him at any stage I feel I would have known him straight away. He’s grown up but his face hasn’t changed, and we look so alike.
“He had bad behavioural trouble in his first foster home, which he puts down to being separated from me. I had bad behavioural problems and I used to cry all the time. In 2010 I made efforts to find him; I rang up everybody I could and when I found out he was alive I burst into tears. It just doesn’t feel like he’s ever left me.
“I can’t explain it but we feel like twins. I couldn’t stop smiling initially. I still can’t. It doesn’t feel like there’s been a gap. We just so naturally gel together, it doesn’t feel like there’s been a 45-year separation.”
Jacqueline and Sean (left) during their last Christmas in care before they were separated(Image: Jacqueline O’Reilly)
Jacqueline and Sean are now planning another reunion with one of the staff members from St Gabriel’s Convent who looked after them before they were fostered.
Jacqueline said: “I had gone through a lot of healing on my own, so I had already dealt with those demons and struggles with what I went through.
“We both had good foster parents, so that helped with the healing. But if I was to give a word that describes how I feel now, it’s complete.
“I still feel a bit angry that we were separated because we had been so close from birth. Looking at my notes, I think it was decided that we would be better off in different families.
“I understand they (social services) made the decision they thought was best for us at the time, but they didn’t have to cut contact. That’s what I’m angry about. It wasn’t our fault what happened. We were just children. We didn’t do anything wrong.”
