'I felt shame before they took my baby'

Jan Doyle was just 16 when she found herself pregnant and was forced to give up her baby for adoption.

She said: "We were made to feel ashamed and a shame on society. It altered my life completely."

Ms Doyle, who lives in Folkestone, Kent, was one of around 200,000 women in England and Wales coerced into giving up their babies during 1950s, 60s and 70s.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have the deepest sympathy with all of those who are affected by historic forced adoption. The practice was abhorrent and should never have taken place."

The young mothers were forced to give up their babies because "families and institutions, including schools, churches, social and healthcare workers, prioritised hiding what was regarded as a shameful situation rather than providing emotional and medical support", according to a Joint Committee on Human Rights report in 2022.

Ms Doyle met with about 50 other victims of forced adoption in London last weekend to explore the campaign to get a formal apology.

Now 78, she said a proper apology from the government was long overdue.

Ms Doyle called her baby boy John.

She was assigned a welfare officer through the church and had to take him to a national children's home in Havant, Hampshire.

She said: "It was 1963, I remember the snow being piled up on the side of the road.

"I had this little baby in my arms in the back of the car, you didn't have baby seats then, so I cuddled him all the way and held him tight.

"I was taken to this room. I can see him now.

"There was this little baby, my little boy, all alone.

"I just said goodbye and that was it."

Ms Doyle said she had been with her baby for around six to eight weeks before he was taken from her.

She even breastfed him and said they had built a bond.

"It was all part of the punishment of making you feel ashamed," she said.

The enormous impact it had on her led her to a nervous breakdown and a suicide attempt, she said.

"I was a mess, I went through an awful lot after that with children that I had later.

"I was on Valium for a good 12 years."

Last November Ms Doyle received a letter from the Passport Office, saying that someone was trying to contact her.

After more than 60 years, she was reunited with John.

She said: "To get to meet him was a dream but to be able to get to know him was an absolute bonus and slowly we are getting to know each other.

"I didn't think it would ever happen. Those raw years will never go away but somehow, I feel lucky."

Karen Constantine, from Ramsgate, was sent to work in a laundry room in Birmingham in 1978 when she became pregnant as a teenager.

She has written a book exploring the harrowing stories that many women are still struggling with.

"These women have suffered in silence carrying the pain and heartbreak, many still living with the scars of forced adoption," said Ms Constantine, a Labour county councillor who describes herself as a campaigner.

"The government needs to apologise as many of these women are in their later years, before it's too late."

The Department for Education said: "The previous government had set on record that the treatment women experienced during this time was wrong.

"We will look at what we can do, learning from the approach taken by the devolved nations, to support those affected."

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