Sarah Mullally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, apologized for the Church of England’s coercive adoption practices and treatment of pregnant mothers during the post-World War II period through 1976.
“We are profoundly sorry for the pain, trauma and stigma experienced—and still carried—by many people because of historical adoption practices in homes linked to the Church of England,” said Mullally in a video released online on June 18.
In its own report, the church acknowledged that leadership knew pastoral guidance to keep mothers and babies together was disregarded in some cases and muddled with other language in church records, including “dehumanising and dismissive attitudes, falling short of what would be expected towards anyone in the church’s care, not least people who were rendered especially vulnerable by their circumstances.”
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