The Archives and Records Association welcomes the Government apology for historical adoption practices
The Government has today announced an apology for historical forced adoption practices in England. ARA welcomes today's announcement. This is a long overdue apology which recognises the role of the state and public institutions in these practices in England, and the lifelong impacts on those affected. Practices, mainly between 1949 and 1976, but not exclusively, saw many thousands of mothers being separated from their babies through coercive practices, a denial of choice and a culture of shame.
The apology follows extensive campaigning by people with lived experience and recognises the profound and lifelong impact these practices have had on mothers, adoptees, fathers, birth families and others.The Joint Committee on Human Rights in 2022 launched an inquiry into historic forced adoption which recommended that Government should make an apology for past practices. This was followed recently, by the House of Commons Education Select Committee inquiry on historic forced adoption which also made recommendations for a state apology.
All who have been impacted by these historic adoption practices should have access to support including specialist mental health support and improved access to their records. ARA is working with CoramBAAF to develop a new platform that will be freely available, to detail the location of adoption and care records in the UK and signpost to organisations who can support those wishing to access their records. This work builds on work of the UCL MIRRA (Memory – Identity – Rights in Records – Access) project which worked with care experienced and adopted people to understand how records are created and accessed by the people who use them.
The development of the new platform will be designed and co-created throughout by a group of adopted and care experienced people and is based on models already developed in New Zealand and Australia. We know that accessing and understanding records can be a critical part of understanding why decisions were made. In addition, records contribute to identity development for those affected by adoption or care experiences. There are currently insufficient support services for those wishing to access their records and information held by agencies.
We are planning to launch this platform later this year for use by those who want to locate their records and we will be sharing more information about this project as it evolves.
ARA’s Chief Archivists in Local Government Group has been building on the work of UCL’s MIRRA project in a number of ways and the work with CoramBAAF is part of ongoing work in this area.
Below is a short (and partial) timeline regarding adoption and care records.
Timeline
1926 Adoption Act
2011 Public Records Scotland Act and 2025 Care Reform Act (Scotland) mean care records in Scotland have official protection.
2016 onwards University College London’s MIRRA (Memory-Identity-Rights in Records-Access) project working with care experienced and adopted people as co-researchers, creates a starting point for much of the subsequent work on records of care and adopted people. Seed funding in 2016 provides for the grounding for two significant AHRC funded projects commencing in 2017 and continuing to 2021 with additional projects thereafter.
2022 Final report of Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA)
2022 Joint Committee on Human Rights in 2022 launched an inquiry into historic forced adoption which recommended that Government should make an apology for past practices.
2023 Apologies are issued by the Scottish and Welsh Governments.
2023-24 the Chief Archivists in Local Government Group (CALGG) developed guidance for record keepers on the records of Care and Adoption experienced people building on the work of the MIRRA project. Phase 1 saw the publication of the guidance in March 2024 and Phase 2 published retention schedules to help record-keepers in this aim. https://www.archives.org.uk/care-and-adoption-records
2026 a new phase of the CALGG work has started looking how records held in Line of Business applications can be successfully transferred for long term digital preservation. The full project brief can be found here
2026 (March) CoramBAAF and the Archives and Records Association (ARA) announced a partnership to make it easier for adopted and care-experienced people to find and access records relating to their adoption and time in care. The initiative will develop a free, easy to navigate online resources and will be launched later in 2026. The platform will detail the location of adoption and care records in the UK and signpost to organisations who can support those wishing to access their records. Further information available here.
2026 (March) Education Select Committee on Historic Forced Adoption – the project above was mentioned by Sally Ells, one of the witnesses and Co-Founder of the Adult Adoptee Movement; said (in relation to tracing birth records):
“…there are two essential and very practical steps that we think would make a huge difference. One is to mandate a single online database listing where all the records are held. We recognise that it might be impractical to bring them all together, but the UK and Ireland Archives and Records Association have done a fabulous piece of work on this, and they have actually already developed the database. It is there; they just need some help getting it off the ground, and then all that information is online. That would make a huge difference to us.”
If you are directly affected by this work the following sources of information and support may be of help:
Support for adopted adults and birth relatives who have questions about adoption, and those who are seeking information about their past or looking to connect with birth relatives:
Gov.uk - information about adoption records and how to access them (in England and Wales) includes how to obtain a copy of your original birth certificate from the General Register Office, or if you don’t know your birth details, how to make a ‘birth information before adoption’ (BIBA) application.
Also information about how to add your details to Adoption Contact Register if you are an adopted adult or birth relative hoping to reconnect (or to register a wish for no contact).
PAC-UK - (part of Family Action) is an adoption support agency that supports people dealing with the realities of adoption and special guardianship, and provides advice, counselling, training, intermediary services and signposting to other relevant services.
FamilyConnect - (part of Family Action/PAC-UK) helps adults who have been adopted, adults who have been in care, birth parents and relatives who have lost someone to adoption and professionals working in these areas. FamilyConnect can help you find answers to questions about your origins and how to go about accessing a service to reconnect.
Adoption Search Reunionwebsite – The site is now old and cannot be updated, however it contains the ‘locating adoption records’ database, currently the best source for identifying the current location, where known, of historic adoption records from mother and baby homes, adoption societies and adoption agencies that have closed, relocated or merged over time.
CoramBAAF and the Archives and Records Association are working in partnership to develop a new free, easy to navigate online resource that will detail the location of adoption and care records in the UK and signpost to organisations who can support those wishing to access their records. This will replace the locating adoption records database. Read more about this here
Barnardo’soffers therapeutic services to anyone affected by adoption primarily in London, South East, East Anglia, and South West England. For those adopted through Barnardo’s provides assistance with accessing records, enquiring as a relative of an adopted person, finding information about deceased relatives and about child migration.
Your local council Every local authority’s adoption support service must offer advice and information service to adopted people and to birth parents and relatives who live within their area. Search your council’s website for adoption support or contact your local council and ask for the adoption support service.