CoramBAAF welcomes the report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights on The Violation of family life: adoption of children of unmarried women 1949-1976
This is a powerful report which shines a light on the experiences of the many women who were subject to significant pressure that resulted in their children being adopted with lifelong consequences for these women and those who were adopted. The report highlights that many mothers experienced stigma from society and their own families, a lack of support from and sometimes appalling treatment by professionals. These experiences were often traumatic and we want to thank the committee and acknowledge the experiences of the mothers and adopted people who gave evidence as well as the many would have felt unable to or could not.
The committee has made a number of important recommendations and we also welcome the Committee highlighting the need for practical actions to address the failings highlighted and the resulting human suffering.
There is a lack of accessible therapeutic support services for many affected by the issues shown in the report. CoramBAAF recommends that any reparative work should include funding to allow birth parents and adopted adults to take advantage of their rights to support, search and trace set out in current adoption legislation. This would begin to address the wrongs of the past.
Ellen Broome, CoramBAAF Managing Director, discusses some of the issues highlighted by the report in more detail in her recent blog.