Historical forced adoption: Minister for Children and campaigners give evidence
The Minister for Children Josh MacAlister will give evidence to the Education Committee as MPs conclude their work on historical forced adoption.
Meeting details
Committee members are likely to ask Minister MacAlister to set out the Government’s position on historical forced adoption, which over several decades saw many babies adopted against their birth mothers’ wishes, causing long-lasting harm and in many cases trauma.
A 2022 report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended that the Government improve access to adoption records and make an official apology for the state’s role in forced adoption practices.
MPs are likely to ask about the Government’s position on making such an apology, as well as the Government’s plans to ensure that mothers and adoptees have consistent access to adoption records, trauma-informed counselling and intermediary services to help them trace their families.
Also giving evidence are campaigners with experience of forced adoption. MPs are likely to ask these witnesses how historical forced adoption has shaped their lives, what information or support they had at the time to understand their options, and how much access they have had to adoption records.
MPs are also likely to ask what difference an official Government apology might make to the mothers and adoptees affected by historical forced adoption, and what steps would be required before, during and after to make an apology meaningful.