Image source, ReutersThe prime minister will apologise for the practice on behalf of the UK government
ByIan Aikman
Sir Keir Starmer will make a formal apology on behalf of the British state for its role in historical forced adoptions in England and Wales.
An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from their mothers in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with thousands of women pressured into giving up their children because they were unmarried.
The apology comes after years of campaigning from mothers, adoptees, and their wider families. Campaigners will meet the prime minister in Downing Street ahead of his statement to the House of Commons later on Thursday.
In March, a parliamentary inquiry recommended the government urgently apologise for the state’s role in the practice.
The inquiry report, from the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), found that government decisions had “shaped the environment in which unmarried mothers were often shamed and coerced into having their children put up for adoption”.
It called for improved access to adoption records, as well as more support for people seeking to contact or reunite with their families.
It stopped short of recommending financial redress to victims, but called on the government to “rigorously assess” how other countries had responded to historical forced adoption, including Australia, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson confirmed two weeks ago that a formal apology was on the way from the UK government.
“The prime minister will have more to say on this shameful period in our history, reflecting the gravity of what has happened,” she said at the time.
The apology will come three years after the devolved governments in Cardiff and Holyrood said sorry to victims of forced adoption in Wales and Scotland.
An apology is also expected in Northern Ireland, but not until after the completion of a public inquiry, following a 2021 report on mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.
Previous BBC reporting into forced adoption led to the parliamentary inquiry.
Gaynor Weatherly, whose mother was 16 when she was born in 1963, told the BBC in 2021 that while she had found happiness through her own marriage and children, she felt “cheated out of a different life”.
Diana Defries, who was 16 when she became pregnant, had her baby taken from her moments after she gave birth.
Also speaking to the BBC in 2021, she said: “I yelled to bring her back, but the nurse then just walked past me and put my daughter on a table out of my reach.”
The JCHR report in March also found that the state was “aided in enacting its policies by charities and religious institutions, who were, for example, responsible for the operation of mother and baby homes”.
In June, the Church of England said it was “profoundly sorry” for its role in forced adoptions.
In a formal apology, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dame Sarah Mullally said victims experienced “pain and trauma and suffering and fear when you should have received care and compassion”.
She added: “You have nothing to be ashamed of. The shame is ours.”
