Cardinal apologises for hurt cause by Church adoption agencies

Cardinal Vincent Nichols has apologised for the "hurt caused" by adoption agencies acting in the name of the Catholic Church from the 1940s to 1970s.

The cardinal's apology will be shown in an ITV documentary series entitled Britain's Adoption Scandal: Breaking The Silence, which features interviews with women speaking about their experience of having their babies adopted through the Catholic Church, the Church of England and the Salvation Army among other organisations.

More than half a million adoptions, often overseen by voluntary organisations with religious connections, took place in the 30 years before a change in the law in 1976 gave local authorities responsibility for them in Britain.

Cardinal Nichols says in the film that the practices of those agencies "reflected the social values at that time, and were sometimes lacking in care and sensitivity".

In the documentary women describe harrowing experiences of being pressured into giving up their babies. One woman, Diana, describes how she kept her baby for 12 days until her mother found out, and she was sent away to a mother and baby unit outside the capital.

"I had not had any antenatal care so I really didn't know what to expect. It was both terrifying and heartbreaking," she said.

The woman said she was "actively discouraged" from helping care for her baby, whether picking her up, changing her or even feeding her. "When I could, I fed her from a bottle as when I had been in hospital they gave me an injection to stop me lactating," she said. "It made the difference for me having those 12 days because I knew a little about her rather than nothing at all."

Then she had to come back to London. "That was the longest I had spent holding her, on that train journey back," she said. "When someone came out to take her, I was still in the mindset that they won't make me do this. But my mother took her from me, handed her to a stranger in a white coat and we went home."

Diana was reunited with her daughter 18 years later and says they have a good relationship now, but "You never get the time you have missed back... there are still hundreds of thousands who don't have the joy of a relationship with their child."

The Archbishop of Canterbury said he was not in a position to respond to allegations about organisations that, while associated with the Church of England, are separate entities.

Referring to the experience of one of the women in the documentary, the Salvation Army said: "We sincerely sympathise with her painful memories and can only confirm her experience would be different today."

Lawyers are preparing a case calling for the launch of an inquiry into the work of the adoption agencies.

ITV's 'Britain's Adoption Scandal: Breaking The Silence' begins on Wednesday 9 November 2016 from 9-10pm