Man meets his birth family 40 years after being abandoned in plastic bag with placenta still attached

A man who was abandoned as a baby in a plastic bag had an emotional reunion with his birth family after four decades.

During an episode of the UK television show Long Lost Family, now 40-year-old Jon Scarlett-Phillips was able to meet his two half-sisters for the first time.

According to a report by The Daily Mail, Scarlett-Phillips was abandoned by his real mother in the toilet of a leisure center car park back in 1984. Fortunately for him, he was saved by three teenage girls who happened to be passing by and saw him wrapped in a blanket and placed inside a shopping bag with his placenta still attached.

The girls immediately called for an ambulance to get him to a hospital. Scarlett-Phillips highlighted how he is "very grateful" that the girls found him. 

"They're the ones that saved my life," he said.

He was later adopted by his foster parents John and Marilyn and now has a big sister named Debbie.

Due to the circumstances of his birth, Scarlett-Phillips admitted that he didn't want to look for his birth family for a long time. He also had frequent emotional outbursts while growing up and acknowledged that he "had a lot of anger issues and a lot of emptiness."

"It's hard to deal with. The question is still there: Why did she do it?" he said.

Scarlett-Phillips has since built a career as a chef and started his own family with his wife Becky and their 17-year-old son. It was thanks to his wife that he eventually had the courage to look for his real family and finally uncover the truth behind why he was abandoned years ago.

With help from an ancestry website, Scarlett-Phillips was able to meet his birth father, who told him that his mother may have been the woman he had spent one weekend with.

Long Lost Family eventually helped him locate his birth mother and learned that she was only 20 years old when she had him. Ariel Bruce, who works as the show's lead search and social work consultant, said that Scarlett-Phillips' mother "couldn't cope" with the pregnancy. 

"When she left him, she was mentally in a very bad place," Bruce recalled.

They also found that his birth mother eventually gave birth to Scarlett-Phillips' half-sisters later on, who were excited to meet him when they learned of his existence.

In the letter they sent him, his half-siblings wrote, "Finding out about you has been a complete rollercoaster of emotions. Initially, we were heartbroken and devastated to find out how many years we had missed together. However, as emotions settled, we were left with such happiness."

"We have 40 years to catch up on and a very long bucket list. We would like you to know you have two loving sisters wanting to be a part of your life. We are so looking forward to meeting you," they said.

Scarlett-Phillips said that he felt "a whirl of emotions" after reading the letter.

"It's like a tornado going off at the moment," he shared.

The show managed to get the three of them to meet for the first time. Unfortunately, their mother couldn't be with them as she felt "unable, both physically and mentally, to come following a long period of illness."

She also admitted that she is "struggling with feelings of guilt and shame, and that she needs to process them before going any further," according to The Daily Mail.

One of Scarlett-Phillips' birth sisters, however, assured him that their mother just needs time. He then told them he's not holding a grudge against their mother for her actions and highlighted that he is now "a lot lighter" after finally meeting them.

"I feel a bit more full, as well. That emptiness has disappeared completely now," he said, "I'm a happy man."