The Slow Newscast Foundling | Tortoise Investigates
Mar 24, 2026
A newborn left in a supermarket bag sparks a decades-long mystery about origin and identity. A woman retraces the verge where she was found and confronts the shock of learning she was abandoned. The story follows detective leads, an anonymous parcel, a social media breakthrough finding the woman who discovered the baby, and the legal hurdles that keep foundlings' origins hidden.
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Discovery Of The Suffolk Foundling
- Jess was found as a six-pound, three-ounce baby on 6 October 1987, wrapped partly in a Sainsbury's plastic bag and wearing an oversized Adams vest.
- A passing driver spotted her, she was taken to hospital, named Heather by midwives, and later adopted by a Suffolk couple within months.
Adoption And Childhood Folder Of Cuttings
- Jess grew up knowing she was adopted and kept a flimsy folder of 1987 newspaper cuttings about 'Baby Heather' as her only early record.
- After three months in foster care she was matched with a Suffolk couple and describes an idyllic childhood with family nearby.
Foundlings Fall Through Recordkeeping Gaps
- Foundlings have no official birth records, so legal rights to identity (adoption disclosures) don't apply and there's often no paper trail to trace parents.
- That blank origin denies the basic right of adopted children to access birth information even in the UK where others can request records.