UK PM Keir Starmer apologises on behalf of government for historical forced adoptions | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00The shame is not yours. The words of
2. 0:03Keir Starmer today as he apologized on
3. 0:06behalf of the state for its role in
4. 0:08historical forced adoptions in England
5. 0:10and Wales. It's thought 185,000
6. 0:13babies were taken from their mothers in
7. 0:15the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. In thousands of
8. 0:19cases, the women were forced to give up
9. 0:21their babies because they were
10. 0:22unmarried.
11. 0:24In a moment, I'll be talking to
12. 0:25campaigner Jan Doyle, who aged 16 had
13. 0:29her baby son taken from her. But first,
14. 0:32this report from Duncan Kennedy.
15. 0:36>> It's taken these women half a century to
16. 0:39walk these final steps to redemption.
17. 0:42This was a small selection of birth
18. 0:44mothers and adoptees invited to Downing
19. 0:47Street ahead of today's apology.
20. 0:50A moment as historic as it is painful.
21. 0:53>> Good morning.
22. 0:54>> Good morning.
23. 0:55>> Inside, they met the Prime Minister and
24. 0:57Education Secretary.
25. 0:59Their stories of how their children were
26. 1:01taken and their pleas for recognition
27. 1:04finally heard at the highest levels of
28. 1:07government.
29. 1:09When they emerge, they spoke of their
30. 1:11hopes for the day ahead.
31. 1:13>> Yeah, I'm hoping it will lift the shame
32. 1:15that we've all felt for ever since they
33. 1:18took our babies and said that we gave
34. 1:20them away. We didn't give them away. We
35. 1:22wanted our babies. So, for the rest of
36. 1:25our lives,
37. 1:26we've suffered.
38. 1:2858 years, they tell you you'll forget it
39. 1:30ever happened.
40. 1:31It's almost 58 years and you don't
41. 1:33forget. Every day.
42. 1:36>> They then joined dozens of other birth
43. 1:38mothers and their adopted children
44. 1:40gathered outside Parliament ready to go
45. 1:43in to hear the Prime Minister's historic
46. 1:46words.
47. 1:47>> This morning in Downing Street, I met
48. 1:49some of the mothers and adult adoptees
49. 1:51harmed by historic adoption practices in
50. 1:54England. Mr. Speaker, what happened to
51. 1:56them and to tens of thousands of
52. 1:58mothers, children, and families should
53. 2:01never have happened.
54. 2:02It is a stain on our history.
55. 2:06Mothers, many young, vulnerable, and
56. 2:09without support, were coerced, bullied,
57. 2:13or misled into feeling that they had no
58. 2:16choice but to have their children taken
59. 2:19away from them.
60. 2:21What a thing to do.
61. 2:23>> Sir Keir dwelled on the despair forced
62. 2:26adoptions have brought to hundreds of
63. 2:27thousands of birth mothers and babies in
64. 2:30post-war Britain.
65. 2:32>> And I hope that this statement, this
66. 2:34apology, perhaps gives some of them the
67. 2:37confidence to speak about what happened
68. 2:40to them because it will help in a small
69. 2:42way.
70. 2:43But I say this,
71. 2:45the shame is not yours.
72. 2:49The shame was never yours.
73. 2:52The shame is ours.
74. 2:57And I say that on behalf of the whole
75. 2:58country.
76. 3:00I say it to every single person
77. 3:02impacted.
78. 3:04We are deeply and profoundly sorry.
79. 3:09To the mothers who were told they were
80. 3:11unfit,
81. 3:12who were prevented from caring for the
82. 3:14children they desperately wanted to help
83. 3:16and to keep,
84. 3:18and who've carried this loss for
85. 3:19decades.
86. 3:20>> It's a wrench to part from your baby,
87. 3:22but this
88. 3:23>> Forced adoptions took place in the three
89. 3:25decades after the Second World War and
90. 3:27may have affected nearly 200,000 babies.
91. 3:31Mothers were pressured to give up their
92. 3:33children for adoption because they were
93. 3:35not married.
94. 3:37The BBC's coverage of the story over 5
95. 3:40years had already led to apologies from
96. 3:42the Welsh government.
97. 3:44>> And for this, the Welsh government is
98. 3:46truly sorry.
99. 3:47>> The Scottish government
100. 3:49>> an unreserved apology. We are sorry.
101. 3:53>> And last month, the Church of England
102. 3:55also accepted its harmful role.
103. 3:58>> We are profoundly sorry.
104. 4:00>> The mothers and adoptees had watched it
105. 4:03all from the public gallery. It became a
106. 4:05moment for joy, for relief, for
107. 4:08vindication that they had done no wrong.
108. 4:16>> Duncan Kennedy reporting. And let's
109. 4:18speak now
110. 4:19to Jan Doyle. Jan, thank you very much
111. 4:22for joining us on BBC News today. And I
112. 4:24want to get you to begin by
113. 4:26telling our audience about uh
114. 4:29your little boy. You named him David,
115. 4:31didn't you? And and how you had to give
116. 4:33him away.
117. 4:35>> Yes, I had David 64 years ago. Um
118. 4:39I was 16 and
119. 4:42I was in a mother and baby home.
120. 4:44I was
121. 4:46I didn't know what was happening to him.
122. 4:48I don't think really at that age or at
123. 4:49that time.
124. 4:51I
125. 4:53had him
126. 4:55and I had to look after him and I loved
127. 4:58looking after him. It was It was such a
128. 5:00joy to be with him, to hold him. And
129. 5:03and then
130. 5:05I I had to give him up.
131. 5:08And I had to take him to
132. 5:10Hampshire, I think it was, with my
133. 5:13mother and my moral welfare officer in
134. 5:15the back of a car. And that was January
135. 5:17'63 when it was that awful
136. 5:20winter.
137. 5:21And we drove and drove and drove and I
138. 5:23don't know where. And I was cuddling him
139. 5:25in the back of the car.
140. 5:28And then we got there and a matron, I
141. 5:31presume, opened the door, let us in, and
142. 5:34she took him from my arms
143. 5:37and took him to a nursery or somewhere.
144. 5:41We were led My mom and I were led to
145. 5:43another room.
146. 5:45And all the time I thought,
147. 5:47"Where's my baby? Where's my baby?" And
148. 5:50they said, "Would you like to see him
149. 5:52before you go?" And I said, "Yes." My
150. 5:54mother said, "No." And I said, "Yes."
151. 5:56And I went, and there he was
152. 5:58in this great big cot, in this great big
153. 6:01room, all by himself.
154. 6:05And that image has stayed stayed with me
155. 6:08for all those years, for 64 years. And
156. 6:11it was the last time I saw him
157. 6:13for 60 for 63 years. He found me after
158. 6:17after 63 years.
159. 6:19>> Yeah, I mean that that that is
160. 6:21amazing and and also so awful to be
161. 6:25apart for so long, all of that time to
162. 6:28catch up on.
163. 6:30And I wonder as you listen to Keir
164. 6:32Starmer's apology today, and he talked
165. 6:35about shame, and he said, "I know this
166. 6:36apology, it won't lift it completely."
167. 6:39He hoped it will help a bit. How does it
168. 6:42make you feel to hear it?
169. 6:44>> Well,
170. 6:46I was quite skeptical about this the the
171. 6:48sorry and apology because sorry is such
172. 6:51an easy word to say, but it's
173. 6:53how it's delivered, how it's meant, what
174. 6:56what support, what comes after it. And
175. 7:00in fact, I was quite heartened.
176. 7:02It seemed as though that apology really
177. 7:05was meant, and that there will be
178. 7:08things put in place to support
179. 7:11um victims.
180. 7:14Cuz that's what we are, really. Um
181. 7:17adoptees and um birth mothers
182. 7:20um to to to help them through this
183. 7:23process and to
184. 7:27heal.
185. 7:28>> And after all these years, more than six
186. 7:31decades, would you say that you are or
187. 7:35not healed yet?
188. 7:38>> No, I'm not healed yet. I I
189. 7:40I mean, I during that time, in that 60
190. 7:43years, I
191. 7:44I went through a lot and and so did my
192. 7:46family. I had two other children and
193. 7:48they must have gone through a lot as
194. 7:50well.
195. 7:51Cuz I was
196. 7:52going through it and
197. 7:54it must must have rubbed on off on them,
198. 7:57but
199. 7:59we are a united family and we
200. 8:02and
201. 8:03it's
202. 8:05it is healing. It
203. 8:06and having having my son back in my life
204. 8:10and
205. 8:11it's very good and
206. 8:13it has been accepted by my my other son
207. 8:16and my daughter and that's just
208. 8:18just so amazing for me. Just so amazing.
209. 8:21>> He's called John now, I believe.
210. 8:23>> Called John now, yes.
211. 8:25>> Yes. And what is that relationship like
212. 8:28now?
213. 8:30>> I think it gets stronger every every
214. 8:32time I see him and we we we chat online.
215. 8:36He has a very very busy job,
216. 8:38but
217. 8:39yeah, we chat online or we see see each
218. 8:42other and it's yeah, it's it's
219. 8:45developing really well and he's met
220. 8:47he's met my
221. 8:49my daughter and my other son and my
222. 8:51brother and yes, it's
223. 8:55>> And I know that
224. 8:56>> very well.
225. 8:57>> And I know that [clears throat] you have
226. 8:59been campaigning on this issue for a
227. 9:01number of years.
228. 9:03Is that the campaign over? Are there
229. 9:05still loose ends to be tied up?
230. 9:07>> I don't think that that work so well
231. 9:09because there's so many people who are
232. 9:11so affected, but they need to be
233. 9:15encouraged and to be to to help them
234. 9:19come to terms and realize that
235. 9:22that shame
236. 9:23is not theirs to carry now.
237. 9:26>> Okay. Well, Jan, thank you so much for
238. 9:29talking to us and sharing your story and
239. 9:31best wishes to you and all the members
240. 9:34of your family. Jan Doyle there.