UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood
Wednesday 2 November 2016
The head of the Catholic church in England and Wales has apologised for its part in the” hurt” caused to young unmarried women who say they were felt pressured into handing over their babies for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols acknowledged the “the grief and pain caused by the giving up of a child through adoption”, adding: “Sadly for unmarried mothers, adoption was considered to be in the best interests of the mother and child because of the associated stigma and the lack of support for lone parents.”
A documentary telling the stories of some of the women – who gave up an estimated half a million children during a period when the Catholic church, the Church of England and the Salvation Army ran “mother and baby homes” and adoption agencies in the UK – is to be broadcast on ITV on 9 November.
In a statement at the end of the programme, Nichols apologises for the church’s role, saying: “The practices of all adoption agencies, whether religious, charitable or state, reflected these attitudes and were sometimes lacking in care and sensitivity. We apologise for the hurt caused by agencies acting in the name of the Catholic church.”
The documentary, Britain’s Adoption Scandal: Breaking the Silence, relates the stories of several women whose babies were given up for adoption over the 30-year period. Adoption reached a peak in 1968, when more than 16,000 babies born to unmarried mothers were handed over to new families.
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