UK formally apologizes for forced adoptions of unwed mothers' babies

' An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unwed mothers in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. ' Before the statement, Starmer met with a group of campaigners who watched proceedings from the public gallery of the House of Commons. Among them was Ann Keen, the former health minister who lost her baby to adoption at age 17 in 1966.

' 'We need this apology,' she said, 'because we have always been accused of giving up our babies, and we didn't give them up. ' Starmer announced support measures including improved access to adoption records and psychological counselling for those affected and their offspring. The apology came after years of campaigning.

' Starmer delivered the apology in what the article described as his final weeks as Britain's leader. The announcement followed by roughly two weeks a separate apology from the Church of England. ' Britain joins a short list of countries that have made formal state apologies for forced adoption.

In 2013, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered a national apology for Australia's history of forced adoptions and the 'lifelong legacy of pain and suffering' it caused. In Ireland, a 2021 inquiry found that 9,000 children had died in 18 mother-and-baby homes run by the Catholic Church during the 20th century; Prime Minister Micheál Martin apologised for the 'profound and generational wrong' visited upon mothers and babies in those institutions.