Times have changed – there is no need for an enquiry into historic adoption

Nov 6, 2016 by Jill

by Caroline Farrow, The Conservative Woman:

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has apologised for the harm and hurt caused to young unmarried mothers who were pressurised or forced into giving up their babies for adoption by agencies acting in the name of the Catholic church, throughout the course of the twentieth century.

He is absolutely right to have done so. One cannot begin to imagine the lifetime of heartbreak and sorrow endured by so many women as a result of having their newborn babies forcibly removed from them. No matter how well-intentioned, forced adoption is an act of intolerable cruelty for both mother and baby.

[…] We know that the reality was often very far removed from the ideal, but the founders of various homes were not acting out of a sense of vindictiveness or a desire to inflict punishment. They genuinely thought it was better that the baby should go to the stable family environment provided by a home with a mother and father who were desperate for a baby and who had the financial means to ensure a comfortable lifestyle. A spokesman from the Catholic Children’s Society noted that following a review of their records, they estimate that about 75 per cent of women who passed through their UK homes, kept their babies but it was very difficult for them thanks to the values of wider society. Most women would have felt pressure from very many sources, as indeed they do today when faced by an unplanned pregnancy.

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