Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) says it wants to listen to the experiences of mothers whose children were taken from them during the 1950s – 70s. As soon as their Inquiry was announced last year we wrote to them pointing out that forced adoptions are not just historic, they are ongoing now, and asked them to take evidence on this current injustice. We got no reply, and wrote again in response to their call for evidence in October and in December 2021 issued a press release asking why they were refusing to take evidence about today’s forced adoptions.

We will be writing again now asking to be heard at their roundtable event and we urge anyone who has suffered forced adoptions after the 70s or who is fighting in court against children being adopted to do the same.

You can email the committee selcomengagement@parliament.uk and ask to attend: the deadline to register your interest is 31 March 2022.

17 March 2022

From the Joint Committee on Human Rights

The Joint Committee on Human Rights is holding an event to hear from mothers whose babies were taken away for adoption in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s, from the people who were adopted and from others with experience of adoption then, such as adoptive parents and social workers. We are asking those with relevant lived experience to get in touch if they would like to attend.

Our inquiry has already received a great deal of written evidence from which a number of themes have emerged. The JCHR is keen to explore some of those in more depth, and to hear from those affected.

The event will take place in the afternoon of 27 April 2022 in Portcullis House in Westminster. It will be led by Harriet Harman MP, the Chair of the JCHR, which is a cross-party committee of MPs and members of the House of Lords.

The discussion will be conducted in part in small groups, to allow as much as possible for individuals to describe their own experiences. An outline of the structure for the afternoon is included below.

If you are interested in attending this event, please complete the short online form to let us know a little of your experiences and whether you have already submitted written evidence. We will then be in touch with further information about the event.

Please note we have a limited number of spaces available, and we may not be able to offer a place to everyone who completes the online form, if demand is high.

The deadline to register your interest for this event is 31 March 2022.