Britain’s baby scoop: assembling archival understanding and securing a public apology

Description

In the three decades following the Second World War more than a quarter of a million babies were forcibly removed from mothers, mostly young and unmarried. These babies, typically less than 6 weeks old, were placed for adoption with couples encapsulating ideals of suitability and stability, able to provide a seemingly normal family life. This keynote lecture explores this history of Britain's baby scoop in two parts. First, it traces the policy processes by which the UK Government, Church of England and other religious dominations, voluntary organisations, and the social work profession normalised force adoption, and the archival traces of these organised and funded activities. Second, it links these archival records to campaigns by natural mothers and adult adoptees with lifelong lived experiences of violent severance to secure accountability and justice from the organisations involved and, ultimately, the unfinished business of a public apology from the state.

Period	27/06/2026
Held at	Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	International