The Church of England issued an apology Thursday for its involvement in the decades‑long practice of forced adoptions, during which tens of thousands of unmarried pregnant women and girls were sent to institutions from which their babies were taken.
Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally stated that the church had listened to first‑hand accounts from those affected, who described “the pain, shame and indignity experienced both then and now.”
“Today, we say to each of you: The shame you were made to feel was wrong. You have nothing to be ashamed of,” the archbishop said. “Rather, we are deeply ashamed that this happened to people in the care of Christian communities.”
The apology follows years of advocacy by survivors of the Church‑run “mother and baby homes,” where unwed mothers were often sent to give birth in secrecy. Women and girls sent to these homes faced stigma and moral judgment, while the men involved were rarely scrutinised.
Many women recounted being forced or pressured into handing over their babies for adoption, a system that exploited their shame. The Church of England managed an estimated 200 such homes in England and Wales from 1949 to 1976.
During that period, around 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers and placed for adoption amid a culture of shame, stigma and hostility toward pregnancy outside marriage, new research released Thursday by the Church of England detailed.
In her statement, Archbishop Mullally said the forced adoptions had occurred “in a society that often valued secrecy and respectability over compassion and care,” and acknowledged that “The Church of England was part of that society and helped to sustain those attitudes.”
“For many mothers, children, fathers and wider families affected by these practices, the impact has been lifelong,” she added. “These practices are in the past and must never happen again.”
A 2022 report by Britain’s Joint Committee on Human Rights into the forced adoptions from these homes found that the state “bore ultimate responsibility for the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into unwanted adoptions.” It also called for further measures to support families living with the lasting consequences of these adoptions.
The British government has stated its intention to issue an apology on behalf of the state. The government oversaw and regulated many of the institutions. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that the apology would come “very soon.”
“But here and now, let me say to all of those affected, you will get the apology that you so profoundly deserve,” she said.
The homes were not exclusive to England and Wales or to the Church of England. They followed a model established by Protestant churches across Britain, Ireland, Australia and Canada in the mid‑1800s, similar to the Magdalene Hospitals. Mother and baby homes operated throughout much of the 20th century.
In Ireland, there has been a recent reckoning with the treatment of unwed women sent to mother and baby homes, most of which were later run by the Roman Catholic Church. Those institutions were rife with abuse and neglect, and forced adoptions were also common.
The discovery of the remains of hundreds of babies and children interred in an unmarked mass grave at a home run by nuns in Tuam, Galway, prompted an investigation by the Irish government and the Catholic Church in 2021. Ireland has also established a scheme to provide funding to people affected by their time in the homes.
