British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized to women forced to give up their babies and to those separated from their mothers at birth by a system of forced adoptions that targeted unmarried women in the decades after World War Two.
Forced Adoptions
An estimated 185,000 children were separated from their mothers in Britain. Starmer apologized on behalf of the state for the lifelong trauma it had caused.
Between 1949 and 1976, the British state and Christian churches created a system in which young women with children outside of marriage were shamed and coerced into giving up their babies to comply with the social norms of the time.
The Church of England apologized for its role last month, acknowledging its involvement in running so-called “mother and baby homes” where unmarried women were sent, often against their will, during pregnancy or after giving birth and separated from their babies.
Starmer met a group of affected mothers and children at his Downing Street residence, telling them: “There never was any shame for you. The shame actually is ours. The shame is on the state and all those that were responsible for this.”
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
