"This week, ITV's Long Lost Family: The Mother and Baby Home Scandal will feature the searches of people including mixed-race and disabled adoptees affected by forced adoptions, which the UK government has refused to formally apologise for. Away from the cameras, campaigners say digitising records across the UK will help survivors struggling to trace relatives and reveal the risk of inherited health conditions or from anti-lactation drugs used in homes."
"The Movement for an Adoption Apology (MAA), which fears records could be destroyed in the plans to merge English local authorities , has written to the families minister, Janet Daby, calling for digitised archives. However in a letter seen by the Guardian, Daby said while the feasibility of digitising records had been considered, the scale and cost make it unachievable within current resources."
Hundreds of thousands of British women were coerced to give up babies at church-linked homes working with statutory agencies between the 1940s and 1980s. Survivors and adoptees, including mixed-race and disabled people, continue to search for relatives and medical histories. Campaigners say digitising records would aid tracing, uncover inherited health risks and reveal exposure to anti-lactation drugs. The Movement for an Adoption Apology (MAA) warned records could be destroyed during plans to merge English local authorities and has written to the families minister requesting digitised archives. Northern Ireland and Scotland have taken steps to digitise records and record oral histories.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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