Starmer apologises for UK role in forced adoptions

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state’s role in the forced adoption of thousands of babies from unmarried mothers, calling the practice “a stain on our history” and telling survivors that the shame belonged to the institutions that failed them.

An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from their mothers in England and Wales during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, with Al Jazeera reporting the wider system operated from 1949 to 1976. Many of the mothers were teenagers or young women who were pressured, coerced or shamed into giving up their children because they were unmarried.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Thursday, Starmer said the government was “deeply and profoundly sorry” to “every single person impacted”.

“The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours,” he said. “The state did not do enough to protect mothers, children and families from harm, and for this systemic failure I am truly sorry.”

Starmer said the adoptions were not isolated incidents but practices embedded across local authorities, religious and voluntary organisations, and parts of what is now the National Health Service. Those bodies, he said, had power over people’s lives but acted “without compassion, without consent, and without dignity or proper safeguards”.

“Mothers, many young, vulnerable, and without support were coerced, bullied, or misled into feeling that they had no choice but to have their children taken away from them,” he told MPs. “What a thing to do.”

Some birth mothers and adoptees watching from the public gallery wiped away tears during the apology, while others clapped. Campaigners had met Starmer in Downing Street before the statement, following years of campaigning by mothers, adoptees and their families.

No compensation scheme has been announced. The government said it would provide a £4 million support package over three years to improve access to adoption records, strengthen family reunion services, support groups for mothers and adopted adults, and fund research into the long-term effects on victims.

The apology followed parliamentary scrutiny of historic forced adoption. A March report by the Education Committee said government decisions had “shaped the environment in which unmarried mothers were often shamed and coerced into having their children put up for adoption”. It urged an apology, better access to records and more support for people seeking contact with relatives. It did not recommend financial redress but called for the government to assess responses in other countries, including Australia, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

A 2022 report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights also called for a state apology. The then-Conservative government said in 2023 that it was “sorry on behalf of society” but did not consider a formal apology appropriate because it said the state had not actively supported the practices.

Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart told the Commons the practice was “a stain on our history” and said past beliefs had left “a permanent mark” on children separated from their mothers and on mothers whose children were taken away.

Former Labour MP Ann Keen, who was sent to a Swansea mother and baby home in 1966 at age 17, told BBC Radio 4 before meeting Starmer that she was looking forward to “being released from my shame”. She said: “We all need this apology because we have always been accused of giving up our babies and we didn’t give them up.”

The Church of England apologised in June for its role, including mother and baby homes. Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally said victims experienced “pain and trauma and suffering and fear when you should have received care and compassion”.

Wales and Scotland issued apologies three years ago. An apology is also expected in Northern Ireland after the completion of a public inquiry into mother and baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses.