Britain Apologises To Victims Of Decades-Long Forced Adoption

July 2 () — The British government, on Thursday, formally apologised to victims of the decades-long practice of forced adoption, acknowledging the state’s role in a system that saw an estimated 185,000 babies taken from unmarried mothers between 1949 and 1976.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivered the apology after years of campaigning by mothers, adoptees and advocacy groups who argued that thousands of women were coerced into surrendering their babies because of the social stigma attached to unmarried motherhood.

Ahead of the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament, campaigners gathered at Downing Street, where Starmer met with victims and campaigners, including former Labour MP, Ann Keen, who has become one of the leading voices seeking official recognition of the injustice.

Keen, who was 17 when she gave birth in 1966, said she had no say in the adoption of her son after she was sent to a mother-and-baby home in Swansea. Speaking ahead of the apology, she described the moment as one that would finally lift decades of shame unfairly placed on mothers.

“We all need this apology because we have always been accused of giving up our babies, and we didn’t give them up”, she said, adding that mothers and adoptees had waited many years for the government to acknowledge their suffering.

The apology follows a March report by the Education Committee, which concluded that government policies had helped create an environment in which unmarried mothers were routinely shamed and pressured into placing their children for adoption. The committee found that official decisions had shaped a culture where coercive adoption practices became widespread.

The parliamentary inquiry recommended that the government issue a formal apology, improve access to adoption records and expand support services for adoptees and birth families seeking to reconnect. While it stopped short of recommending financial compensation, it urged ministers to examine how countries, including Australia, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, have addressed similar historical injustices.

The issue had also been examined by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which in 2022 called for a formal state apology. However, the previous Conservative government declined to do so, saying it was “sorry on behalf of society” but arguing that the state had not actively supported the practices.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, confirmed last month that the Labour government would issue a formal apology, describing the forced adoption era as “a shameful period” in Britain’s history that deserved full acknowledgement.

Thursday’s apology comes three years after the devolved governments in Wales and Scotland apologised to victims of forced adoption. Northern Ireland is also expected to issue an apology after the conclusion of a public inquiry into mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.

The campaign has been strengthened by testimonies from mothers and adoptees whose lives were permanently altered by the practice.

Among them is Gaynor Weatherly, whose mother was 16 when she was born in 1963. She previously said she had been “cheated out of a different life”, despite later finding happiness through her own family.

Another victim, Diana Defries, recalled that her baby was taken away moments after birth while she pleaded for her daughter’s return.

“I yelled to bring her back, but the nurse just walked past me and put my daughter on a table out of my reach”, she said.

Investigations into the practice have also highlighted the involvement of charities and religious institutions, many of which operated mother-and-baby homes where young women were housed before being separated from their children.

In June, the Church of England issued its own formal apology for its role in the forced adoption system. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dame Sarah Mullally, said victims had experienced “pain and trauma and suffering and fear when you should have received care and compassion.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed of. The shame is ours”, she told survivors