Scottish leader apologizes for past practice of forced adoptions

Nicola Sturgeon said the practice, which was relatively common until the 1970s, was among the most serious injustices in Scottish history.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's head of government, apologized on Wednesday for the country's practice of forcing tens of thousands of single women to give up their babies for adoption years ago. 1940s to 1970s.

Mrs. Sturgeon said the injustices committed against these women, who were stigmatized because they were young and single, were among the worst in Scottish history.

"No words could ever invent what happened to you, but I hope this apology can bring you some comfort," she said, appearing to hold back tears, in a speech to the Scottish Parliament which was one of his last acts as a leader. "It's the least you deserve, and it's long overdue."

Ms. Sturgeon announced last month that she would step down as Scottish First Minister, with her successor expected to be announced next week.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, thousands of pregnant women singles in countries like Australia, Great Britain, Ireland and New Zealand and in the United States were sent es by their families, social workers, health workers or clerics to live in religious institutions and give birth in secret, a relatively common practice.

Mothers were forced to give their babies up for adoption to families and often lied about the adoption process. They have often been told that they would be selfish to keep their babies and deny them a better life.

"Some women have never even been allowed to hold their babies,” Ms. Sturgeon told an audience that included mothers who had been forced to give up their babies. "Most never had a chance to say goodbye properly."

One ​​of those present was Esther Robertson, who in 1961 was one of children abandoned under the practice of forced adoption. Ms Robertson said Ms Sturgeon's apology was a significant step towards affirming the injustices that have taken place.

"It does not erase what happened. has passed, but it's recognition, and that's important,' said Ms Robertson, who lives in Edinburgh and was in two different institutions known as 'mother and baby homes' before she turned one. .

SP Robertson's birth mother became pregnant at age 17 with a US Air Force airman and was forced to give her up for adoption. n her 50s, Ms. Robertson underwent chemotherapy for stage 4 ovarian cancer and felt the need to find her birth mother.

“The chemotherapy made me pretty sick, and most people yell at their mums when they're sick, and I was no different," she said. "I screamed for the mie not. But which one? I had my choice of three moms. I didn't know who I was screaming for."

Ms. Robertson, now 62, documented her search for her birth mother in a podcast titled " Looking for Esther".

The practice of forced adoption was also common elsewhere in Britain. In England and Wales, around 185,000 babies from mothers Single babies were adopted between 1949 and 1976, according to a parliamentary report released last year.Once the babies were born, contact was often minimized and some mothers could only bottle-feed their babies because it was thought that the breastfeeding created too strong a bond, according to the report.In a written response this month, the UK government repeatedly acknowledged that what happened was wrong.

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