The British government is set to issue a formal apology for its role in forced adoptions, a practice that separated tens of thousands of unmarried mothers from their babies for decades until the 1970s. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons acknowledging the state's involvement and apologizing to survivors.
This apology addresses a period when social norms, religious practices, and government policies placed significant shame on unwed mothers. These women were often hidden away in institutions during pregnancy, and their children were subsequently given up for adoption to married couples. Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers were adopted in England and Wales. Campaigners have long advocated for acknowledgment that these women were frequently pressured, deceived, or threatened into relinquishing their children.
Ann Keen, a former U.K. health minister who experienced forced adoption as a teenager in 1966, expressed her anticipation for the apology, stating it would be a release from shame. She emphasized that mothers did not give up their babies willingly and that the apology offers an opportunity to rectify past wrongs.
In 2022, Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended that the British state apologize for the distress caused by public institutions and state employees who coerced mothers into unwanted adoptions. While the semi-autonomous governments of Scotland and Wales issued apologies in 2023, the Conservative U.K. government at the time declined to do so.
The upcoming apology from Starmer’s Labour Party government follows a similar acknowledgment from the Church of England two weeks prior. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally expressed profound sorrow for the pain, trauma, and stigma endured by many due to historical adoption practices in Church of England-affiliated homes.
Globally, other nations are also confronting similar histories. In 2013, Australia’s then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a national apology for the country’s past forced adoptions and their lasting impact. Ireland has been addressing the legacy of mother-and-baby homes run by the Catholic Church, where tens of thousands of women lived in difficult conditions. A 2021 inquiry found that approximately 9,000 children died in 18 such homes during the 20th century, prompting Prime Minister Micheál Martin to apologize for the "profound and generational wrong" inflicted upon mothers and their children.