Betrayal | Foundling Ep 5
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Tortoise Investigates.
I've been thinking so much about what went on inside those walls. You walk past a car park where I can only guess that Chloe parked up with her mum or her dad, left the car, crossed the road, walked in, pressed the buzzer, and then in they went. From the age of 18, this is where Chloe, Jess's half-sister, would come for her counselling sessions. It's a boxy, three-storey NHS building, not far from the centre of her local town. When Chloe first starts coming here, it isn't a great success.
What shocking discovery does Jess make about her birth mother?
Chloe doesn't really click with the community mental health nurse she's been paired with. But after a year or so, she begins having sessions with a new counsellor, one she really likes. Each time, for about an hour, she sits in a room inside this building and tells the woman everything. I should tell you now, by way of a warning, in November 2023, before we began reporting this story, Chloe died by suicide. She was 23 years old. Chloe's mental health had been fragile for years. According to Chloe's mum, Debbie, there were times when she would sort of disappear into herself, lying in bed for days, not speaking, not engaging with anyone. So this counsellor she begins seeing in the autumn of 2019 feels like a new start, a sort of hope.
She trusted her.
She thought she were all right. She thought she were nice. She was quite responsive. And she'd usually try and get Chloe an appointment as quick as she could if she thought she needed one.
Their sessions aren't always regular. At one stage, Chloe is discharged and then referred back again. In the end, Jennifer counsels Chloe for roughly a year. But after this, she's still in the background. Someone Chloe can ask for help if she needs to. So this is where things are at when, in August 2022, Jess arrives on the scene searching for her biological father. For Chloe, at that point, Jennifer is simply someone she trusts. But that's about to change. I don't know, I just thought it's a bit of a coincidence if it's the same name. The news breaks slowly. First, Debbie learns of Jess's existence. A few days pass. Details come out in fragments. Debbie asks more questions. And then it hits her. The woman who's been counselling her vulnerable daughter is Jess's birth mother.
Without realising it, Chloe has been sharing her deepest anxieties with a woman who'd had a secret relationship with her father. A woman who'd had his baby, abandoned it and never told a soul.
She just kept saying she felt violated. That's the word that she kept using. And she was angry. because she trusted Jennifer. And not only that, the fact that Dad had allowed that to happen, so that meant that, really, did he care about her at all? What more important to him, keeping his secrets covered up or putting his daughter in a situation that she shouldn't have been in? Having this woman that he'd had an affair with, counselling her. So I think it kind of shook her because obviously she trusted my dad and she trusted Jennifer. She really liked her and we thought that she cared about her.
Jess has shown me a message Chloe sends her soon afterwards. It says, I feel so betrayed. She would have known who I am as well. I feel so angry and hurt. She should never have seen me. I'm Lucy Greenwell, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, you're listening to Foundling. Episode 5. Betrayal.
Maybe Jennifer didn't know who Chloe was. Maybe Jennifer didn't make the connection that she knew Chloe's family much more intimately than she let on. Like, maybe she didn't know that. What would you say?
Yeah, she did. She must have known who Chloe was. There's no way that she didn't. I 110% believe that she knew who Chloe was.
Chloe's family is convinced that Jennifer knew who she was and how their lives were connected. But what if she didn't? This is such an important question to try and answer. So let's look at the evidence. We know that when Chloe is first seen by the adult NHS mental health team, she's briefly treated by someone else. But in 2019, when Chloe's 19, Jennifer takes over her care.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–0:53
2
What shocking discovery does Jess make about her birth mother?
0:53–6:27
3
How did Chloe's mental health struggles shape her counseling experience?
6:27–13:47
4
What significant event changes Chloe's perception of her counselor?
13:47–18:04
5
How does Chloe's family react to the revelation about Jennifer?
18:04–31:02
6
What evidence suggests Jennifer knew about her connection to Chloe?
31:02–31:37