South African man appeals to find long lost Sheffield dad after 66 years

Don MacAlister, 66, who lives in Cape Town, is desperately trying to get in contact with his biological father, after he was put up for adoption by his birth mother who lived in Wortley in 1954.

His biological mother, Joan Roebuck, who died in 2015, gave birth to him in a home for unmarried mothers in the Lake District – where he was then adopted six weeks later by Neil and Doreen MacAlister.

The 66-year-old, who is a CEO of a construction business, started searching for his biological parents after his adopted parents passed away.

He eventually found his birth mother and they had a relationship for seven years but she told him his father had died and refused to prove more information.

Despite Don tracing the man listed as the his father on his adoption certificate and building a relationship with who he thought was his half-brother, DNA results confirmed they were not related.

He is now urging anyone who knows the man Joan was allegedly engaged to for seven years during the late 1940s and early 1950s, to come forward.

His biological father is believed to have worked for Taylor Woodrow, formerly one of Britain’s the largest construction businesses.

Joan, who was born in 1916, was thought to have been an office clerk who also worked for both Taylor Woodrow and plumbing merchants, W Emery and Co on Arundel Street.

Don said: “Initially when I found out the person I thought was my brother and my father weren't, I thought I wasn't going to go through this again, it's too hurtful.

“When you apply for your adoption records they try and prepare for you for the worst, you might have been the product of a rape or 100 and one things.

“It is quite a harrowing experience and now I just need to know who he was.”

He aims to write a book about his experience.

Anyone with information about Don’s family history should email him via [email protected].

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