Government to apologise on behalf of the state for historical forced adoption

Aine Fox, Press Association Social Affairs Correspondent

Survivors of forced adoption will get a “full apology on behalf of the state”, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said.

An estimated 185,000 children were taken from unmarried mothers and adopted between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales.

Administrations in Cardiff and Holyrood have previously said sorry to people impacted, but campaigners have long called for an apology from the Westminster Government.

Ms Phillipson described the historical practice as a “shameful period” in the country’s history.

She told the Education Committee on Wednesday: “I know that you and the committee will want to hear that this Government will very soon be making a full apology on behalf of the state to all of those affected by historic forced adoption in England.

“The Prime Minister will have more to say on this shameful period in our history, reflecting the gravity of what has happened.

“But here and now, let me say to all of those affected, you will get the apology that you so profoundly deserve.”

The Adult Adoptee Movement, which campaigns against the “wrongs done to birth mothers and adoptees”, said: “We’re pleased that an apology is finally coming.

“We hope that it will fully acknowledge the harms done and provide appropriate support measures for all survivors.”

The Education Committee has previously called for a formal, unqualified apology to be made by Government to survivors of forced adoption as a step towards giving them “peace”.

A report by the UK Government’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) in 2022 recommended ministers apologise to unmarried women who were “railroaded” into unwanted adoptions.

In 2023, responding to the report, the then-Conservative government said while it was sorry “on behalf of society” for the way the women had been treated, it did not think a formal apology appropriate “since the state did not actively support these practices”.

The JCHR at the time said the lack of apology was “disappointing”.

Earlier this year, giving evidence at a previous session of the Education Committee, education minister Josh MacAlister said he accepted “the state had a role”.

He said the practice “went on for decades, forcibly removing children from these women in homes that were sometimes run by the state, enabled and overseen by social workers employed by the state, and social attitudes that were reinforced by practices that carried on for many years”.

A report by the committee, published in March, said an apology should cover a wider period “as we have received clear evidence that the practices associated with forced adoptions happened before 1949 and continued after the introduction of the Adoption Act 1976”.

That report also called for improved access to records for adoptees and mothers, and access to trauma‑informed support for those navigating contact and reunion with their families.

It stopped short of recommending financial redress but it did call on the Government to carry out a “rigorous assessment” of how other governments around the world had handled the issue “with special attention to the redress mechanisms introduced in Australia, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland”.

They said: “This learning should inform a UK approach that avoids symbolic or incomplete action and instead delivers a comprehensive, fully-resourced, survivor-led response.”

MPs noted that the Irish Government had, in 2022, legislated to offer financial redress to eligible survivors of mother and baby institutions, while in Northern Ireland a redress payment scheme for survivors had been recommended a year earlier.