&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'A stain on our history': UK PM Keir Starmer issues historic apology over forced adoptions. Here's what happened")
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally apologised on Thursday for the forced adoption of an estimated 185,000 babies born to unmarried mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976, describing it as "a stain on our history".
The UK's forced adoption scandal refers to a practice in which thousands of babies born to unmarried mothers were taken away and placed for adoption after many women were pressured or coerced into giving up their children. Many of the mothers were teenagers and faced social, institutional and family pressure that convinced them adoption was their only option.
"We are deeply and profoundly sorry to the mothers who were told they were unfit, who were prevented from caring for the children they desperately wanted ... and who have carried this loss for decades," Starmer told parliament.
"The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours," he insisted.
Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 185,000 babies in England and Wales were adopted under circumstances that survivors and later inquiries described as forced.
Starmer also paid tribute to the survivors who had campaigned for an official apology and praised the "extraordinary courage with which they have shared their harrowing testimonies and fought for the truth time and time again".
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Parliament formally recognises wrongdoing
The apology comes four years after a parliamentary committee recommended that the government formally acknowledge the wrongdoing. Australia apologised for forced adoptions in 2013, while Ireland followed with its own apology in 2021.
Speaking after meeting survivors at his Downing Street office, Starmer said, "What happened to them and to tens of thousands of mothers, children and families should never have happened."
"It is a stain on our history. 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."
The Prime Minister said the removal of children was not the result of isolated incidents but a systemic practice. According to him, it was "embedded within systems across local authorities, across voluntary and faith-based institutions, and in health and social care services".
