Survivors of forced adoption have written to share their experiences of lifelong trauma following Prime Minister Keir Starmer's apology on 2 July 2026 for the state's role in the historical enforced adoptions of at least 185,000 children in England and Wales. The letters, published in response to an article by David Batty, detail the lasting impact of the postwar practice of removing babies from unmarried mothers.
Lifelong Trauma from Forced Adoption
One survivor, who gave up her child for adoption in the late 1960s at age 20, described the experience as a choice that was no choice at all. She stated, "The circumstances were such that unless you had parental or a partner’s support, or a trust fund, it was practically impossible to keep your child." She noted that she had planned to give up her child because she believed the propaganda that as an unmarried mother she could not provide a proper home. After her child's father left her three days before their wedding, she signed the adoption papers and subsequently had a breakdown. She received medication but no counselling. Her child traced her 22 years later, and while they have built a relationship, it has been difficult. She said, "I am now in my late 70s, but have never recovered from that experience. My relationship with my subsequent children has suffered as a result of my trauma. Something fundamental in me left with my child."
Impact on Adoptees and Calls for Redress
Another survivor, now 80, shared that his birth mother did not live to hear the apology. He was given to a "good Catholic family" who did not know how to love him, and he left at age 15. He was referred to child and adolescent psychiatry because he was "the devil in the house." He experienced a disrupted education, suicidal thoughts, and homelessness. He eventually built a family and professional life but was always waiting for things to fall apart. He found his birth mother in his 60s and began to heal. He asked, "What the state is going to do, beyond therapy, helplines and testimonials, to expiate the shame it has now owned."
Impact on Adoptive Families and Current Failures
Helen Ryan from Blandford Forum, Dorset, noted the impact on adoptive families who acted in good faith. Another letter writer, an adoptive parent and kinship carer, highlighted that while the practice of taking children from unmarried mothers has ended, families continue to be failed. She pointed to increased poverty, evisceration of public services, and a huge increase in the number of children being taken into care. She said, "My daughter was let down as a child and her children are being let down now. The pain is immense for all of us and goes on and on. The government’s apology to people who were forcibly adopted decades ago is welcome, but rings hollow in my ears without changes to better support vulnerable children now."
Support Services
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
