The Home For Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman (electronic resource)

     In the middle of the last century the French and English who lived in Quebec put up with one another but that's about all.  Maggie's father speaks English but the boy she falls in love with is French.  There is no way he will allow this romance to lead to marriage.  And he got his way even though at 15 Maggie finds herself in the family way.  Her parents force her to give her daughter Elodie up for adoption.  Maggie goes on with her life and eventually marries.  She never stops missing Elodie and thinks of her constantly.
      Elodie did not get adopted by some loving family.  Instead she lived in an institution run by nuns.    It was not a great life but things get even worse.  A law is passed regarding funding.  Psychiatric hospitals will receive more funding than the orphanages.  To get money thousands of orphans were classified as mentally ill.  Elodie is a bright girl and she survives this awful life until she turns 17 and is allowed to leave.  She enters a world that is like another planet.
     Eventually Maggie decides to take on the daunting task of finding the daughter she never stopped loving.
This is a great book.  And it is a novel.  However it is inspired by events that really happened and that adds to the heartbreak of the story.