British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday issued a formal apology on behalf of the British state for its role in the historic practice of forced adoption in England and Wales, acknowledging the lifelong trauma for unwed mothers, their children and their families.Speaking to Parliament, Starmer said the state had failed tens of thousands of people who were subjected to a system that forced many women to surrender their children between 1949 and 1976, when social stigma around pregnancy outside marriage was prevalent.“The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours,” Starmer said, adding that young and vulnerable mothers had been “coerced, bullied or misled” into believing they had no choice but to give up their children.
He described this practice as a “disgrace on our history.”
According to estimates, about 185,000 children were separated from their mothers during this period. The system included local authorities, religious organizations and parts of what is now the National Health Service (NHS), with campaigners alleging that doctors, nurses and social workers often pressured women to adopt because they were not married.The apology follows years of campaigning by birth mothers, adoptees and advocacy groups, as well as recommendations from multiple parliamentary inquiries.
Along with the apology, the UK government announced a £4 million support package to help people access adoption records, reconnect with family members and preserve certificates documenting the long-term impact of forced adoption, The Guardian reported.The government also pledged to improve access to mental health services and create a reference group of lived experiences to monitor implementation of its commitments.Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “The pain suffered by the mothers, adopted children and their families who have suffered this appalling injustice is unimaginable. Today, on behalf of the British state, we say with one voice: this was wrong, and we are sorry.”She added that although an apology cannot erase the past, it represents the beginning of “real change” through practical support.Before making his statement in Parliament, Starmer met activists in Downing Street, including former Labor MP Anne Keane, whose son was adopted in 1966 when she was 17 years old.
Keane said an apology would finally help lift decades of misplaced shame.She told the BBC: “We all need this apology because we have always been accused of abandoning our children, and we did not abandon them.”A report published by the House of Commons Education Committee in March concluded that government policies “shaped the environment in which unwed mothers were often shamed and forced to put their children up for adoption.”She called for a formal apology to the state, improved access to adoption records and greater support for families seeking reunification.A previous report by Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights also urged a formal apology. However, the previous Conservative government refused to issue one, saying in 2023 that although it “apologised on behalf of the community”, it did not believe the state actively supported the practice.The apology brings the UK government in line with similar admissions made by the devolved governments in Wales and Scotland, while Northern Ireland is expected to consider making a formal apology following a public inquiry into mother and baby institutions.Reuters reported that similar apologies were also issued in Ireland and Australia.
Church of England He apologizes for his role in the forced adoption
The Church of England apologized for its role in the system last month and admitted its involvement in running mother and baby homes, where many unmarried women were sent and later separated from their children.As a senior church leader, Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of York, said the victims had suffered “pain, shock and suffering” when they should instead have been receiving “care and compassion”.