LONDON, June 18 (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The Church of England has officially apologised for its involvement in forced adoption practices during the decades following World War Two. This historic admission addresses a period between 1949 and 1976, during which approximately 185,000 children were removed from unmarried mothers across England and Wales.
Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, delivered the formal apology to acknowledge the systemic trauma and long-lasting stigma inflicted upon families. Research conducted by the Church revealed that it operated or held affiliations with more than 200 mother and baby homes during this era.
“We are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced – and still carried – by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England,” Mullally said in a statement.
The Scope of Systemic Coercion
The investigation highlighted that the social structures of the time created environments where unmarried women lacked the agency to keep their children. Although some official church policies suggested that a mother held the right to retain her child, staff frequently ignored these guidelines. Instead, workers operated in tandem with adoption agencies to pressure women who often possessed no other viable choices for support.
Internal records from 1970 uncovered during the inquiry revealed that some staff members explicitly referred to these homes as venues from which agencies obtained raw material. Beyond the coercion, the investigation brought to light severe allegations regarding the treatment of children, including reports of infants being left to die if they were considered unmarketable or undesirable for adoption.
Conditions Within Church-Affiliated Homes
The environment inside these institutions was often described as punitive and dehumanizing. Vulnerable young women were frequently hidden from society and forced into menial labor as a form of correction. The records also indicated that healthy infants were sometimes punitively sent to institutions for children with disabilities, despite having no medical conditions themselves.
Media investigations into these facilities have further exposed the existence of hundreds of unmarked graves of infants who died due to severe neglect and poor care. These findings have intensified the pressure on religious and state institutions to address their roles in maintaining a culture of secrecy and shame.
Financial Redress
In response to these findings, the Church of England has committed to providing support at the local parish level and establishing dedicated online resources to assist survivors in tracing records. Beyond these measures, a broader independent financial redress scheme is scheduled to open in late 2026. This initiative will allow victims to apply for case-by-case compensation, with payouts capped at 660,000 pounds for exceptional circumstances.
The United Kingdom government is also expected to issue a formal state apology in Parliament in the coming weeks. This anticipated action follows similar reconciliatory steps taken by the Catholic Church in England and Wales in 2016, as well as formal government apologies previously issued by nations such as Ireland and Australia regarding their own historical adoption scandals.
