Overview
- Diana Defries told BBC Breakfast that her baby was taken from her when she was 16, and she now leads the Movement for an Adoption Apology.
- She rejected the phrase “gave up” and said most babies were taken from young mothers rather than surrendered by choice.
- Defries said she was sent to a mother-and-baby home, gave birth in an NHS hospital, and faced appalling treatment from staff.
- A group of MPs is urging the government to issue a formal apology to thousands of women separated from their babies because they were unmarried.
- Parliament’s Education Committee has said historical forced adoptions caused “unimaginable trauma,” a judgment that echoes reports of lasting shame, secrecy, and lifelong psychological harm tied to post‑war stigma.