Stolen Babies.

[TheTwerkingDuchessOfMonteshitshow]

Has anyone else watch this documentary. It’s on BBC1 and IPlayer as of today.

Its gut wrenching and I’m sure I’ve never been so moved by anything else I’ve ever seen on television.

It’s about forced adoption in the UK that went on for decades and features women who had their babies kidnapped by state sanctioned kidnappers, and well worth a watch.

Just be aware however that it’s an emotional very hard watch.

I was one of those babies .
Im not sure I can watch , I’ll see.

I've found it very difficult to read news articles with testimonies from the poor women impacted by this, but will try to watch this as its so important they are heard

I watched this; very hard. My grandmother - poverty - was a teenage girl, she had a baby (my dad) with a married man who was 55.

Dad was taken away from her at weeks old from a church home and given to a white religious well to do (upper middle) couple.

She never recovered, she died a long time ago very mentally unwell, and I never met her.

He has never dealt with it. He handed his shite on via abuse.

I wouldn’t change it because I dearly love the family my dad was brought up by; they are wonderful people and so very special, I have their surname - but at the same time, it had a huge horrendous impact on multiple lives.

Awful 😞 an apology is the bare minimum but it doesn’t go far enough

I'll watch it

It was a tough watch. Those poor women were let down by men and women. The way they were treated is appalling and babies just given away to anyone.
Awful times.

It made me feel very, very angry. The cruelty and shame towards the women, some of whom were children who had been raped, was unconscionable. So many people involved as well, all conspiring to continue the system.

Ive just finished watching it "live" om bbc2. God absolutely heart wrenching. Really highlighted that animal urge of mother and child bond.

Not watched but definitely will.

It sounds horrendous.

I can’t believe the stories of abuse by the drs etc - stitching without anaesthetic to teach them not to be bad again! And slapping legs when they moved

not one word about the men who got them pregnant!! All excused and completely protected by patriarchy

It was horrendous

but how lovely to see some of them reunited with their children even 40 years later - walking side by side holding hands and resembling each other - what a world of pain they’ve been through 😞

A lot went on back then. Many children were given away and they couldn’t trace their real parents.
it is very sad.

It was terrible how the teacher who raped the girl was protected and the girl not believed. Also the woman who was hit hard on the face when in labour when she tried to get off the bed as she was in so much pain.

I feel so much for these girls, mainly in their teens, who most of the time had no idea what was happening to them, sexually assaulted or ignorant. They will never heal. But also the babies ripped from their arms, in some cases, who possibly grew up thinking their mother gave them up as they never wanted them. The true horror of this was heart wrenching.

So awful. I felt so sad and angry for everyone, mums and babies.

From a different perspective, I have an adopted family member who was adopted in the 1970s.
I thought a lot about his adopted parents (my aunt and uncle) who were so happy to have him, I wonder what they knew about his birth mum, whether they thought about her? I'm sure they did. They were good, kind people. Not middle class, my uncle was a coal miner. I felt for them too after watching that, their family was built on so much unhappiness. I don't know if they realised that at the time, or came to realise later. I don't know how that made them feel

I've watched it, but I already knew most of it.

That's religion and govt for you - the Catholic church, the CoE, the governments of the day. All equally as callous, misogynistic and spiteful. No-one should ever trust either church again.

And all done in the name of morality while the men responsible walked away scott free. It's sickening.

Not to forget the (not fit to be) parents who allowed such treatment of their teenage daughters. Every single one of them (if still living) should hang their heads in shame. Too busy worrying about what the neighbours might think.

It was so sad, I was in tears watching it.
What these women endured was horrendous.
Not believed, treated like scum and their babies forcibly taken from them.
I was so happy to see some of them re-united with their children.

The documentary was good, but it did give the impression that only the middle classes adopted these children and that wasn’t always the case. I’ve known a few people adopted in the 1960s (and much more recently as well ) to working class parents from all backgrounds, but maybe the documentary only focused on those who were taken by more affluent people, especially if they had to pay.
It was sad all round , the children do feel different and the attitude towards to the women was appalling. Many were raped and then told it was all their fault :(

I have not yet watched this, but I am one of those women and I am glad the truth is finally out in the open. It is a shame that so many of the women and their children did not live to see the Government and Church of England apologise.

I was adopted in 1977, my Mum was 17.
I'll never know the circumstances but I'll always wonder.
She killed herself when she was 34.