'I was given up for adoption in a Church of Scotland mother and baby home', reveals Edinburgh MP
Edinburgh North and Leith MP Tracy Gilbert said her birth mother spent time in one of the institutions for unmarried pregnant women and girls.
An Edinburgh MP has told the Commons how she was given up for adoption in a Church of Scotland mother and baby home.
Tracy Gilbert said her birth mother spent time in one of the institutions for unmarried pregnant women and girls.
The Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith said she had “no idea if my birth mother felt forced to have me adopted”.
Ms Gilbert was speaking in the Commons after Sir Keir Starmer made a state apology for the forced adoption of babies from unmarried mothers.
The Prime Minister saluted her “courage and resilience” for speaking out.
Ms Gilbert held back tears in the Commons, as she spoke of her own experience of being adopted.
She said: “As an adopted person born in 1972 I welcome today’s statement from the Prime Minister.
“I have no idea if my birth mother felt forced to have me adopted. I do know that prior to the birth she was in a Church of Scotland mother and baby home.
“My adopted parents have since died, but I am sure they would not want to have adopted any child who had been forcibly removed from their mother.
“Does the Prime Minister agree with me that mothers should be supported by the state to look after her children and not forced to give them up?”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer replied: “Things that are intensely personal and private, full of pain and grief, being said out loud in a chamber like this is really difficult. It’s hard for some of us to comprehend just how difficult that must be, and so I salute her courage and resilience, and all those that have spoken out.
“To have to speak out about something which is so intensely difficult, over and over again is incredibly, incredibly demanding, but the comfort I hope is not only that because of that you have been seen and heard, but that others will have the courage to speak out about what happened to them, and I thank her in that regard as well.
“And yes, we must keep up the support. Yes, we must keep up the dialogue, and we will.”
Sir Keir made the apology on behalf of the Government for forced adoption in the Commons on Thursday morning.
Women whose babies had been taken from them watched on.
Sir Keir told them: “The shame was never yours, the shame is ours.”
Some of those in the House of Commons gallery were seen to wipe away tears as the apology was delivered.
The Scottish Government made a formal apology for the practice in March 2023.
It is estimated that 60,000 women had babies adopted because they were unmarried during the postwar years.
Many were denied access to benefits which would have allowed them to keep them.
According to campaign group Movement for Adoption Apology, there were 36 mother and baby homes in Scotland.
The group’s website says that 11 of them were run by the Church of Scotland, with seven run by the Salvation Army.