Placed for adoption at 10 days old, Ellie Simmonds goes to find her 'secret family'

Ellie Simmonds won the hearts of the nation when she was unveiled as Team GB’s youngest member at just 13 years old, and went on to win two gold medals in the 100m and 400m freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

Four years later, at the Summer Paralympics in London, Ellie cemented her reputation as one of the country’s favourite sportswomen after she won another two golds and set a World Record in the 400m freestyle, before winning gold and setting a world record for the 200m medley at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

As a country, we were delighted by her success and charmed by her bubbly personality but, as this documentary reveals, there is more to her story than sporting greatness.

Just 10 days after she was born, Ellie was placed for adoption and she has often wondered if this decision was taken after her parents were told she had a disability, and if being born with dwarfism influenced their decision.

As Ellie reaches a new stage in her life, cameras follow her as she tries to find her birth mother, as well as gain a wider understanding about why children from diverse backgrounds are more likely to be placed for adoption.

“Until now, it’s never emotionally affected me, it never made me feel rejected or ask ‘why do my birth parents not want me?’” she says. “I’ve been so focused on the future and never thought about it.”

She goes on: “One of the reasons for being given up for adoption is because of dwarfism. Maybe it can be a factor of why my personality is like it is now, because of that rejection at the start.”

In a shocking statistic, the programme reveals that around 40% of children in the England and Wales care system have a registered disability, far higher than the 8% average for the rest of the population.

The powerful documentary follows Ellie as she explores barriers on both sides of the adoptive process – obstacles that are both social and institutional – and asks if a stigma around having disabled children is being perpetuated.

From probing the existence of in-built systemic bias that begins from the moment of birth, to a lack of wider awareness, Ellie makes it her mission to investigate and unravel this complex issue.

She spends time with families who have adopted disabled children, meets some of those who felt they were not able to raise a disabled child, and hears deeply personal stories from both sides.

The former Paralympian also sets out to highlight the pioneering work of social services teams around the UK, aiming to fully explore the relationship between adoption and disability, which she describes as “so close to my heart and which needs much greater awareness”.

After finally meeting her birth mother for the first time, an emotional Ellie explains: “I have no idea how all this will play out, I’m glad I’ve gone through this process. Questions I’ve carried for years have been answered.

“I’m proud of my life and I love my family and maybe, perhaps, that family just got bigger.”