Angela Frazer-Wicks MBE - Birth mum receives King's Birthday Honours

Angela Frazer-Wicks MBE - Birth mum receives King's Birthday Honours

Angela Frazer-Wicks, chair of the trustees of Family Rights Group, which supports families and children to stay together has been recognised for services to children and families.

The honour was "phenomenal", she said, and she could now tell her son "mum's getting a medal off the king".

Ms Frazer-Wicks's two sons - one aged five and one 14 months - were taken into care in 2004 and put up for adoption because of abuse she had suffered, she said.

In 2021 she told her story to BBC Radio Four's Four Thought, explaining how after more than 16 years she was finally able to talk once again to her oldest son, who now lives abroad.

In the interim years, she became a voice for others in similar situations and co-chairs the Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) Learning and Improvement Board, among other work.

"This time 19 years ago I was preparing to say goodbye [to my children] and I genuinely didn't know how I was going to live past that point," Ms Frazer-Wicks said.

"And here I am all these years later - my children are OK, I'm OK and I'm somehow getting a medal for services to children and families.

"It's mind-blowing, it's utterly bonkers, and I don't think I've ever been quite so proud."