The Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a formal apology for the Church of England’s role in historical forced adoptions, telling the thousands of mothers affected that “the shame is ours” in a video statement that arrives a day before the government is expected to make its own apology in the House of Commons.
Dame Sarah Mullally said the Church was “profoundly sorry” for the pain caused by adoption practices in homes affiliated to the Church of England, describing the impact on many people as “lifelong.” “You have nothing to be ashamed of, the shame is ours,” she said. “We are deeply ashamed that this happened to people in the care of Christian communities.”
An estimated 185,000 babies of unmarried mothers were adopted in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. The Church of England said it did not know precisely how many of those cases involved its own institutions, but believes it is likely that tens of thousands of mothers and babies passed through around 200 Church-linked homes during that period.
In her statement, Dame Sarah said: “We have heard first-hand the accounts of mothers who were separated from their babies in circumstances where they had very few meaningful choices. They have told us about the pain, shame and indignity experienced both then and now. Today, we say to each of you: the shame you were made to feel was wrong.”
The apology comes as Sir Keir Starmer is expected to make a formal statement on behalf of the government in the Commons, acknowledging the state’s own role in the adoptions. The back-to-back apologies from both the Church and the government represent a significant moment of institutional reckoning for practices that affected hundreds of thousands of families across nearly three decades.
