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The Government must provide an unqualified formal apology to all those affected by historical forced adoption in the UK, the cross-party Education Committee recommends in a report launched recently (27 March 2026).

• Read the report

Ministers should provide an initial commitment to an apology, begin working with survivor groups as quickly as possible, and commit publicly to a clear timetable for developing and issuing its apology, MPs say.

It should work directly with mothers, adult adoptees and lived-experience organisations to co-author the apology and any subsequent commitments.  

The Chairs of the Education Committee and the Joint Committee on Human Rights have also jointly signed a letter to the Education Secretary, published recently, which highlights the recommendations made in the Education Committee’s report and calls for the Government to act urgently. 

Historical forced adoption practices involved systemic coercion, removed parental choice, and often resulted in lifelong consequences for the mental and physical health of survivors, the Committee says. 

While there was no single author or perpetrator of forced adoptions, the Committee concludes that government decisions shaped the environment in which unmarried mothers were often shamed and coerced into having their children put up for adoption. 

The Government should therefore formally and publicly recognise the state’s central role in enabling historical forced adoption practices, MPs say. A formal apology is essential in order to correct the public record, address previous misrepresentations and reduce the burdens felt by many mothers and adoptees. 

The Committee says the evidence it heard from four survivors of forced adoption was “some of the most powerful, moving and compelling” evidence members had heard. The Committee thanks these witnesses for their bravery, honesty and eloquence and calls for decisive Government action without delay, “so that survivors can get on with their lives”. 

In other recommendations made in the report, the Committee calls for the Government to:

• Guarantee survivors regular consultation with the Government and clear lines of accountability.
• Rigorously assess the responses of other countries to historical forced adoption, with special attention to Australia, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
• Introduce a clear legal duty on record-holding institutions to maintain and securely store their records, establish a single, standardized access point for records, and issue new guidance to local authorities to improve those seeking information about their records.
• Introduce a nationally funded and regulated intermediary service to ensure that all mothers, adoptees and other impacted relatives have access to skilled, trauma‑informed professionals who can support them in navigating contact, reunion, or information‑sharing processes safely and sensitively.
• Develop a trauma-informed health pathway for all those affected by historical forced adoption, including improved access to psychological support and national clinical guidance recognizing the heightened prevalence of complex PTSD and suicide risk among survivors.

Chair comment

Chair of the Education Committee, Helen Hayes MP, recently said: 

“Historical forced adoption practices coerced mothers and caused unimaginable trauma for multiple generations of women and profound, often devastating impacts for their children. The Committee’s evidence session with survivors of these appalling practices was one of the most moving days I have experienced in Parliament. 

"Our report today is unequivocal: the Government must urgently offer an unqualified apology for the state’s role in shaping the forced adoption practices that harmed so many survivors. 

"The Government should co-produce its apology with survivors, ensuring it reflects their experiences, and it should commit to offer survivors meaningful support beyond the apology itself, including better access to records, trauma-informed healthcare and regular consultation with the Government. 

"Survivors have suffered for far too long. They simply want to move on with their lives. A formal apology is an essential step towards delivering the peace survivors deserve.”

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees
• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees
• Education Committee