'The longest I held my baby for was two hours': the shameful role the Church of England played in forced adoptions

Diana Defries was just 16 when she was told to give up her newborn daughter. But it didn’t happen a century ago – this occurred in 1974.

From the 1950s to the 1970s, thousands of young mothers were sent to homes run by the Church and sanctioned by the Government. There were around 100 of these homes in England alone, and many subjected pregnant women to hard labour, akin to Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries. Here, vulnerable women gave birth, only for their babies to be forcibly removed for adoption.

This wrongdoing has come to light again after the BBC reported on an apology the Church has drafted. In reaction to this, BBC4’s Woman’s Hour spoke to Diana, who told host Anita Rani that, shortly after giving birth, she was taken to an adoption agency where her baby was prised out of her arms. The following week, Diana was sent back to school where she had to pretend that everything was fine.

In the interview, Diana describes the feelings of shame she felt; of herself and others being treated like “lesser beings”; and that she carried a sense that they had been punished. She is now hoping to be vindicated by the Government and the Church, but while a spokesperson for the former said it is taking the “abhorrent practice… extremely seriously”, the Church of England has yet to issue its apology.

Diana’s distressing experience is by no means isolated. The scandal has prompted some heartbreaking responses on social media. In the comments section of the Woman’s Hour Instagram post.

Wagstaff2023 wrote, “It happened to my mum. She had her first child stolen by the church and state. They said if she didn’t give her up they would diagnose mental illness and she would be locked in a institution and they would take the baby then and she would be stuck forever so it was best she handed her baby over. She tried again, married my dad and had me. But in the end she couldn’t cope and killed herself. Those responsible have blood on their hands. They’ve inflicted generational trauma on so many people. It’s time for an apology.”

maternal_matters’ comment recalls the lasting consequences it had on her own mum, “It has affected her all her life the shame and treatment she received by nuns. it also affects the child taken. My mum had 3 more boys and me, but a child doesn’t replace a child.”

Sammyingayle, who was one of the babies similarly affected, wrote, “I was taken immediately from my mother, placed in a cot for 10 days, alone at the most crucial time for experiencing safety as an infant, wired to be with my mother and denied that by nuns and the state. It caused me untold harm.”

The therapist Bhavna Raithatha also commented that she has witnessed the suffering of some of the victims, “I've had so many clients share a similar, traumatising story filled with shame and grief. Where is the shame and accountability for the men who got these girls pregnant? Where is the justice?”