社会活动人士表示，向上世纪50至70年代被迫与孩子分离的女性发出正式道歉的时机已刻不容缓。
戈登·布朗呼吁英国政府向20世纪50至70年代被迫与孩子骨肉分离的女性正式道歉。
这位工党前首相表示，国家应为其在英格兰和威尔士约20万名妇女被迫骨肉分离的“可怕悲剧”中所扮演的角色道歉。
活动人士此前警告时间所剩无几，甚至有部分女性在获得正式道歉前就已离世，而他的这番言论是在六个月后作出的。
“收养道歉运动”（MAA）的成员卡伦·康斯坦丁二月份向《卫报》表示：“道歉的意义在于它能带来巨大的治愈效果，化解那些年迈女性群体数十年来因骨肉分离而承受的难以想象的痛苦。”
布朗表示，政府应当承认‘已造成的损害及其引发的伤痛’。
他告诉英国独立电视台（ITV News）：“这原本是绝不该发生的事。如今我们虽无法弥补过失，但至少能为此事致歉，我认为这至关重要。”
他补充说，工党政府已有足够时间研究这一问题。"现在是时候为强制领养儿童（如今已成年的受害者）作出道歉了。他们一直在等待政府承认理解其遭遇，等待政府代表国家致歉的承诺。尽管这不是本届政府的过错，但我认为他们理应得到道歉。"
去年，MAA联合创始人之一维罗妮卡·史密斯（Veronica Smith）去世，享年83岁。她曾表示，1964年因强制收养失去女儿的经历“给我的整个人生蒙上了阴影”。她本希望在关于强制收养的公开听证会上作证，但政府于2017年驳回了相关调查呼吁。
去年大选前与工党高层政客的讨论使MAA相信，若该党执政将发布正式道歉。"这迟迟未能实现令人极度失望，"康斯坦丁表示，"我通过多次正式与非正式交流确信道歉即将到来，且基尔·斯塔默将亲自表态。"
据估计，1949年至1976年间，被送往宗教组织和政府运营的母婴之家的未婚女性人数在18万至25万之间。其中大多数人被迫放弃孩子抚养权，部分婴儿因虐待或照料不善而夭折。
2021年一项针对强制收养的议会调查发现，英国政府对给年轻弱势女性及儿童造成伤害的行为负有『最终责任』。报告指出：『政府若能正式道歉并承认这些母亲的遭遇是可怕且错误的，将在一定程度上减轻受影响者的痛苦。』
2023年，苏格兰和威尔士政府就强制收养行为正式道歉。
2016年，英格兰和威尔士天主教会领袖就其在该地区强制收养事件中扮演的角色致歉，英国圣公会亦表示深感遗憾。
英国独立电视台新闻部称，通过信息自由申请，他们在纽卡斯尔的救世军机构霍普登母婴之家发现了近70座婴儿的无名坟墓。
去年获得的埋葬记录显示，英格兰各地至少10处公墓的集体坟场中埋葬了197名婴儿。
Campaigners say time running out to issue formal apology to women who had babies taken away in 1950s, 60s and 70s
Gordon Brown has called on the UK government to issue a formal apology to women whose babies were forcibly adopted in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
The former Labour prime minister said the state should apologise for its role in the terrible tragedy of forced adoptions involving about 200,000 women in England and Wales.
His comments come six months after campaigners said time was running out , with some women dying before hearing a formal apology.
Karen Constantine of the Movement for an Adoption Apology (MAA) told the Guardian in February: The value of an apology would be immensely healing and resolve unimaginable pain endured for decades by an ageing cohort of women who had their babies taken from them.
Brown said the government should acknowledge the damage that was done, the hurt that its caused.
He told ITV News: This is something that should never have happened The fact that we can now do something, not to rectify the problem, but to apologise for what happened, I think is really important.
The Labour government had had sufficient time to look at the issue, he added. Its time to make the apology for the forced adoption of children, who are now adults, who have been waiting for the assurance that the government understands what happened to them, waiting to know that the government is prepared to apologise on behalf of the country. While it wasnt this governments fault, I think they are owed an apology.
Last year, Veronica Smith, one of the co-founders of the MAA, died aged 83. The loss of her daughter in a forced adoption in 1964 had coloured the whole of my life, she said. She had hoped to testify at a public hearing into forced adoptions, but the government dismissed calls for an inquiry in 2017.
Discussions with senior Labour politicians before last years election led the MAA to believe that a formal apology would be issued if the party took power. Its beyond disappointing that it hasnt happened, said Constantine. My many formal and informal conversations led me to believe an apology would be forthcoming and that Keir Starmer would deliver it.
Estimates of the number of unmarried women who were sent to mother and baby homes run by religious organisations and the state between 1949 and 1976 range between 180,000 and 250,000. Most were coerced into putting their babies up for adoption; some babies died due to mistreatment or poor care.
A parliamentary inquiry into forced adoptions in 2021 found the UK government was ultimately responsible for actions that inflicted harm on young, vulnerable women and children. An apology by the government and an official recognition that what happened to these mothers was dreadful and wrong would go some way to mitigate the pain and suffering of those affected, it said.
The Scottish and Welsh governments formally apologised for forced adoptions in 2023.
In 2016, the head of the Catholic church in England and Wales apologised for its role in forced adoptions, and the Church of England also expressed great regret.
ITV News said it had discovered nearly 70 unmarked graves of babies who died at Hopedene maternity home, a Salvation Army institution in Newcastle, through freedom of information requests.
Last year it obtained burial records that revealed 197 babies were buried in mass burial grounds at least 10 different cemeteries across England.
股票配资平台的行情提示：文章来自网络，不代表本站观点。
