General Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament am ar 31 Hydref 2024.
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work that it is doing to support those affected by historic forced adoption. (S6O-03870)
I start by saying how sorry I am for the profound pain and loss of historical forced adoption and the lifelong impact that it has had on people’s lives. I extend my deepest sympathies to everyone who has been affected.
Most recently, we held five lived-experience sessions with mothers and adoptees, and we are taking forward actions based on what we heard in those sessions. We continue to fund the charity Health in Mind to offer specialist peer support to those who have been affected by historical adoption, and we are funding Birthlink to manage the adoption contact register for Scotland, which helps to support connections between families who have been affected by adoption.
Since the first anniversary of the formal apology that the former First Minister delivered to those who have been impacted by historical adoption practices, I have been in contact with some campaigners who have shared with me their subsequent concerns. I know that the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise is aware of those concerns, having met the campaigners in June.
As the apology in itself is not the end point for those who are impacted, what is being done, and what more can be done, to ensure that the voices of those with lived experience are at the heart of the post-apology work that the Scottish Government is currently undertaking?
As I mentioned, we held five lived-experience sessions with mothers and adoptees, and I thank everyone who participated in those sessions for sharing their views on such a sensitive subject.
In response to what people told us about the importance of information and awareness raising, we are, as a first step, developing dedicated historical forced adoption pages on the mygov.scot website so that all the information about post-adoption services and help can be found in one place. We are also developing commemorative copies of the national apology, which will be available very shortly; that is in direct response to asks from the affected groups.
We are committed to continuing our engagement with people with lived experience to inform our approach. We heard directly from people involved about the importance of being clear about what is realistically achievable, so we propose to undertake targeted engagement on specific key policy proposals as we go forward.
Great work has been done by the Movement for an Adoption Apology group, and it was a welcome development to see victims receive a formal apology from the Scottish Government.
However, a constituent of mine has expressed concern that, given the passage of time, the truth about the experiences of those who have been impacted will be lost. Has the Scottish Government given any consideration to working with mothers to enable their oral histories to be recorded and archived?
I understand the concerns of the member and her constituent, and I would be happy to consider ways in which to raise awareness of mothers’ experiences of historical forced adoption and the lifelong impact that they have endured, whether that is through oral histories or by any other means. I would be open to discussing any proposals that the member has in that regard, further to her recent letter to the First Minister.