involved tens of thousands of babies being taken from their mothers simply because the women were unmarried. The Church ran about 100 mother and baby homes across England where unmarried pregnant women would be sent, in effect, to hide them from society. The BBC has seen a draft of an apology prepared by the Church, in which it says "we are deeply sorry". One of those women was Jan Doyle. In 1963, at 16 years old, she was unmarried and became pregnant. She was sent to a mother and baby home in Kent and recalled what she said were the "harsh" conditions of the home. "If the floors needed washing, we would have to get down on our hands and knees, even though we were pregnant", she said.

Jan's baby boy, David, was taken from her a few weeks after she gave birth. They were reunited after 63 years, when he reached out to her, and now see each other on quite a regular basis. Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) investigated historical forced adoptions after the BBC first reported on the issue back in 2021. The committee concluded that around 185,000 babies were caught up in forced adoptions between 1949 and 1976. Not all the birth mothers went through a Church of England mother and baby home. Others were run by different Church and welfare groups. In an early draft of the Church's apology, seen by the BBC, the Church said: "We acknowledge the lifelong impact of these experiences and the part the Church played in a system shaped by attitudes and behaviours that we now recognize as harmful. "For the pain and trauma experienced – and still carried - by many women and children in Church affiliated mother and baby homes, we are deeply sorry." (BBC)