A woman from Kent who was forcibly adopted at six weeks old has welcomed a new report which urges the UK government to apologise to those affected.

In a report released on Friday, the cross-party education committee recommended that the government provide an initial commitment to an apology and outline a timetable for issuing this.

At least 185,000 children were forcibly adopted between 1949 and 1976 against their mothers’ wishes.

A government spokesperson said: “This abhorrent practice should never have taken place, and our deepest sympathies are with all those affected.”

Nikki Paine believes that this report, and its criticism of the government, has been a long time coming.

The 63-year-old, from Ashford, said: “At last…but it’s [the apology] got to be done carefully.

“I don’t want [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer just to stand in parliament and simply offer an apology. I want it done in public, in a big space…I’m on a mission now.”

Helen Hayes MP, chair of the education committee, called the evidence session with survivors “one of the most moving days I have experienced in parliament”.

Alongside an apology, the MP said the government should “commit to offer survivors meaningful support” including better access to records and trauma-informed healthcare.

Paine, who has been diagnosed with complex PTSD, said it was imperative that “adoption trauma was recognised”.

The government’s statement to the BBC did not directly commit to an apology but pledged to “continue to engage with those affected to provide support”.

Paine said campaigners would not stop until they receive the apology they believed they deserved.

“If they don’t [apologise], we’ll keep going until it happens,” she said.

While the report made clear there was no single perpetrator of this practice, the committee concluded that government decisions shaped an environment which coerced unmarried mothers into putting their children up for adoption.

“This has to be made right,” said Paine.

“We want reparations…adoptees are finally finding their voice, and for the first time, we’re being listened to.”

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