Calling for a formal apology for victims of historic forced adoptions

Questions to the Leader of the House (11 September 2025)

Thousands of women across the United Kingdom were coerced into giving up their babies for adoption between the 1940s and 1970s.

I called on the government to preserve adoption records so families can be reunited, and to issue a long-overdue formal apology to the women and families whose lives were devastated by these practices.

Anyone in Newcastle-under-Lyme affected by historic forced adoptions can contact my office at adam.jogee.mp@parliament.uk

The story was covered in the Weekend Sentinel on Saturday 13 September

NORTH Staffordshire MP Adam Jogee has called on the Government to apologise for the forced adoption scandal which saw unmarried mums give up 185,000 children over a 25 year year period. The MP for Newcastle-underlyme, below, raised the case of one of his constituents as he said that all documentation on historic adoptions should be retained. The Welsh and Scottish governments have already said sorry to those affected. Speaking for the Government, Commons leader Sir Alan Campbell said the practice was ‘abhorrent’ and extended his ‘deepest sympathies’. Speaking during Business Questions at the House of Commons, Mr Jogee said: “The forced adoption scandal has outraged people in Newcastleunder-lyme and up and down the country. “This week I heard from Karen Constantine, who gave birth aged 15 in the late 1970s. “She was forced out of education in North Staffordshire, into a mothers’ and baby home in Birmingham and pressured to give up her child. “While she didn’t give up her child, and fought really hard against the forced behaviour of others, other women weren’t so fortunate. “So will the leader join me in calling on local authorities to preserve and protect all adoption records, so mothers are able to get the justice that they deserve and find their children? Secondly, can I urge him as leader to do all he can to get a formal apology from the despatch box to women who so desperately deserve justice?” Around 185,000 children were taken from unmarried mothers and adopted between 1949 and 1976 in the UK, at a time when they were often rejected by their families and shunned by society. Adoptions were generally handled through agencies run by the Church of England, the Roman Catholic Church and the Salvation Army. The Welsh Government formally apologised in April 2023, a month after the Scottish Government did so. A report by the UK Government’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) in 2022 recommended ministers apologise to unmarried women who were ‘railroaded’ into unwanted adoptions. The JCHR later said the lack of an apology from the government was ‘disappointing’. Commons leader Sir Alan, who was speaking in the Commons in his first session since being appointed to the role last week, said: “These are remarkably distressing and lifechanging in the effect that they had. “These abhorrent practices should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with those affected. “We take these matters extremely seriously. We continue to engage with those impacted to provide support. “We’re also improving access to adoption records, including asking adoption agencies to preserve records for at least 100 years, and I will ensure that the Education Secretary hears about (his) concerns.”