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Official apology sought in recognition of lasting suffering caused by adoption practices in 1950s-1970s involving unmarried mothers – JCHR

The Joint Committee on Human Rights has called on the Government to issue a formal apology to unmarried mothers who had their babies taken for adoption in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

In a report published on 15 July 2022, the Joint Committee finds that the Government bears ultimate responsibility for the pain and suffering caused by public institutions and state employees that railroaded mothers into unwanted adoptions. It further calls for more to be done to support those dealing with the life-long consequences of these adoptions, urging the Government to improve access to counselling and remove barriers to accessing adoption documents.

Between 1949 and 1976, in England and Wales an estimated 185,000 children were taken from unmarried mothers and adopted. Women and girls who became pregnant outside of marriage during these decades were seen as having shamed themselves and their families. Babies were taken from their mothers who did not want to let them go.

Key findings and recommendations

Over the course of the inquiry, the Joint Committee heard harrowing testimonies from the mothers, adopted people and their relatives who went through these traumatic experiences and still live with the legacy of suffering. While each case is unique, their stories share common threads that make clear the cruelty  they suffered.

The report details the fear that unmarried women and girls felt when they discovered they were pregnant and the difficulty in seeking help. Families and institutions, including schools, churches, social and healthcare workers, prioritised hiding what was regarded as a shameful situation rather than providing emotional and medical support, in many cases sending unmarried mothers far away from where they lived so their pregnancy could remain a secret from their family and community.

Mothers and adoptees spoke of the life-long of suffering and impact on their mental health and challenges in forming future relationships. The report calls for better access to adoption-specific counselling for those affected by the legacy of adoption practices during this time and in these circumstances. It urges the Government to take urgent steps to remove barriers resulting in the lack of counsellors trained in post-adoption support.

There remain challenges for those trying to trace their mother or child. Despite having a legal entitlement to adoption records, some applicants have to wait months or years to receive them. Birth and adoption certificates contain different names making it difficult to link the two. Adopted people face serious difficulties from not knowing their parents’ medical history, unable to take preventative care for inheritable diseases. The report calls for on the Government to remove bureaucratic barriers that are exacerbating the trauma of these adoptions. Guidelines should be set for local authorities to improve access to records and their performance monitored. Birth and adoption certificates, should be linked and there should be improved sharing of medical information, while respecting data protection and privacy laws.

Publishing the report, Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights Rt Hon Harriet Harman MP said:

“The unique importance of the bond between mother and child has been acknowledged down the centuries. Yet in this country, just a few decades ago, that bond between hundreds of thousands of mothers and their babies was brutally ruptured and the baby taken for adoption. The mothers’ only ‘crime’ was to have become pregnant while unmarried. Their ‘sentence’ was a lifetime of secrecy and pain. They were told they had ‘given’ their baby for adoption when they had done no such thing. Their child grew up being told that their mother had ‘given them away’. The mothers had to endure a cruel double dose of shame. First, the shame of getting pregnant out of wedlock and second, when society’s attitude to unmarried mothers changed, they were judged for supposedly not caring about their babies and giving away their baby.

“These adoptions would never happen now and should not have happened then. They did nothing wrong but were themselves wronged. The joint committee on Human rights acknowledges the grave wrong done to these mothers and their children. It is time for the government to do the same and issue the apology they seek.  For decades they have been vilified.  Now they need to be vindicated”

Part of a longer press release at https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/93/human-rights-joint-committee/news/172077/official-apology-sought-in-recognition-of-lasting-suffering-caused-by-adoption-practices-in-1950s1970s-involving-unmarried-mothers-jchr/

 

July 15, 2022

Domestic Abuse statutory guidance sets out in detail what constitutes domestic abuse, how to identify it and best practices for responding – Home Office

  • New Domestic Abuse statutory guidance sets out that domestic abuse can take many forms, not just physical violence, and can include economic abuse and controlling or coercive behaviour
  • Will provide victims with easier access to support that meets their needs and circumstances

New statutory guidance on identifying and responding to domestic abuse and its impact on victims was published on 8 July 2022 by the Home Office.

The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 statutory guidance will ensure victims are supported to access frontline support that meets the complexity of their needs, by ensuring that the police, healthcare practitioners and local authorities have the necessary tools and information to offer tailored support to victims and survivors.

The guidance supports the implementation of the Act’s wide-ranging statutory definition of domestic abuse and provides guidance to those working with victims, including the police and local authorities.

The statutory definition introduced in the Act incorporates a range of abuse beyond physical violence, including controlling or coercive behaviour, emotional, and, for the first time, economic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 also recognises children who see, hear or experience domestic abuse as victims in their own right.

This new statutory guidance goes further to ensure that the complexity of domestic abuse is properly understood to support a coherent ‘whole system’ response to supporting victims and survivors, including children. By setting out best practice approaches and encouraging multi-agency working, a whole system response will deliver the step change needed to tackle this abhorrent crime, recognising that everybody has a role to play in supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse.

Following the Act’s recognition of children as victims of domestic abuse, there is also further guidance on the impact of domestic abuse on children, as well as further information on early intervention measures in social care and education settings.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-guidance-will-ensure-all-forms-of-domestic-abuse-are-recognised

July 15, 2022

Average UK families £8,800 a year worse off than in comparable countries – The Economy 2030 Inquiry

Britain’s toxic combination of low growth and high inequality has left it trailing behind the comparable economies of Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands, with disastrous consequences for low- and middle-income households.

But a new economic strategy aiming to address this failure needs to be serious about the scale of change required, and go far beyond promises of tax cuts, according to a major new report from the Resolution Foundation and Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE.

Stagnation nation – the interim report of The Economy 2030 Inquiry, funded by the Nuffield Foundation – brings together the findings of the 30 reports published so far for the Inquiry to set out the scale of the economic challenge Britain faces in the decade ahead, and how a bold, new economic strategy could deliver a fairer and more prosperous economy.

The report notes that the country is approaching a decisive decade of economic change in the 2020s against a backdrop of low growth and high inequality.

Having almost caught up with the economies of France and Germany from the 1990s to the mid-2000s, the UK’s productivity gap with them has almost tripled since 2008 from 6% to 16% – equivalent to an extra £3,700 in lost output per person.

And despite claims that GDP doesn’t matter, the report shows just how visible low growth has been in people’s pay packets. Before the financial crisis, wages grew by an average of 33% a decade. Since then, pay growth has fallen below zero, and eight million young workers have never experienced a period of sustained rising real wages.

Britain’s slow growth over the past 15 years has combined with the high inequality over the past four decades – posing a toxic combination for low- and middle-income households.

While the top 10% of households in Britain are richer than those in many other European countries, middle-income British households are not: they are 9% poorer than their counterparts in France, while the poorest fifth of households in Britain are now over 20% poorer than their French and German equivalents.

The report warns that the UK is currently not on track to turn this around because, despite the country’s huge strengths, it is not serious about the task of doing so. That’s because policy makers are:

  • Not serious about the nature of our economy. Britain is a services superpower – the second biggest exporter of services in the world – and is about far more than financial services, with specialisms in professional services, education and intellectual property. These strengths should be at the heart of a new economic strategy, but are rarely celebrated by politicians.
  • Not serious about firms investing. Despite firms’ loud and regular complaints about skill shortages, their own investment in human capital is falling short. The average number of days an employee spends in training each year has fallen by almost 20% between 2011 and 2017.
  • Not serious about levelling up. 69% of the UK population live in cities and their hinterlands, and yet all of England’s major cities outside London have productivity levels below the national average. The scale of change required to turn this around is far bigger than is currently being considered.
  • Not serious about fairness. Half of all shift workers in Britain receive less than a week’s notice of their work schedule, an intolerable situation in a modern advanced economy. Poor households have experienced no income growth in the 15 years running up to the pandemic and the basic level of benefits is now only 13% of average pay – the lowest level on record.
  • Not serious about taxes. Despite promises of huge tax cuts, slow growth and an ageing society mean higher taxes than we’re used to. Both main parties have increased National Insurance recently, despite it falling narrowly on younger workers at a time of flatlining wages. In contrast, wealth has risen from three to almost eight times GDP since the 1980s, while wealth taxes have not risen at all as a share of GDP.

Stagnation nation says that just as the relative decline of UK is underestimated by policy makers, so too are the gains from turning things around.

Comparing the UK, not to the world’s most productive or equal countries, but to a group of five comparable nations – Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands – the report illustrates the scale of Britain’s challenges, but also catch-up potential. If the UK had the average income and inequality levels of these countries, typical household incomes in Britain would be a third higher – equivalent to £8,800 per household – and those of the poorest households 40% greater.

Having set out the goals and framework for a new economic strategy for Britain in the 2020s, the next phase of The Economy 2030 Inquiry will focus on the policies that would deliver greater and fairer prosperity across Britain – a task that all the main political parties, and contenders to lead them – need to focus on.

https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/project/the-economy-2030-inquiry-navigating-a-decade-of-change

See press release at https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/average-uk-families-8800-a-year-worse-off-than-in-comparable-countries

July 14, 2022

Nuffield Foundation calls for ambitious early childhood strategy

Families with young children face a unique set of challenges which, if not addressed, could have a long-term impact on today’s generation of under-fives.

The first five years of a child’s life are crucial to their healthy development and well-being in later life. But the concluding report in our Changing face of early childhood series reveals that early childhood is increasingly characterised by inequality and uncertainty, compounded by the impact of the pandemic and rising poverty amid the cost of living crisis.

An estimated two-fifths of children are not reaching their expected level of development by age five and more than a third of families with young children are living in poverty. Almost all children now rely on the early childhood education and care system, which is not fit for purpose and is in need of urgent reform.

The Nuffield Foundation is calling for an ambitious early childhood strategy, underpinned by clear objectives, sustained investment, joined up services and the principle of early intervention. Our report, Bringing up the next generation: from research to practice, sets out four goals that should underpin an early years strategy and a series of recommendations for a more holistic and joined up approach to early years policy and services.

Being a young child or their parent is a strikingly different experience today from that of a generation ago. Over the past 20 years, how young children are looked after, how parents combine work and care, the form that care takes, and children’s living arrangements have all changed. The COVID-19 crisis has fundamentally changed the way a generation of young children have grown and developed.

Virtually all children now experience some form of state-financed formal early education and childcare before they start primary school. In 2022, 92% of three- and four-year-olds took up the universal entitlement to 15 hours of term-time state-funded early education.

At its best, this provision is transformative for both children and their families, but the current system is not working. Access to early education is not yet universal and the most disadvantaged families are less likely to access their free entitlement. On average, 38% of disadvantaged two-year-olds are missing out. Provision needs to be accessible, affordable and of good quality so that all young children can benefit from the system.

The majority of mothers with young children under five are now in paid work, with the steepest rises among mothers with a child aged one to two. The employment rate for mothers whose youngest child is under four years old increased from 50% in 1996 to 67% in 2018.

While there were increases in the amount of time fathers dedicated to childcare during the pandemic, mothers still undertake two-thirds of childcare for the under-fives. The pandemic highlighted the difficulties many parents face when trying to balance work and childcare, whilst experiencing a lack of support.

Rises in early childhood poverty since 2013/14 are being exacerbated by the current cost of living crisis and the two-child limit. Over half (52%) of families with three or more children where the youngest child is under five are living in poverty. Experiencing poverty at the start of life can be highly damaging in itself and poses major risks for children’s learning, social and emotional and physical development throughout childhood and later life.

Children from some ethnic minority groups, children living in some geographical locations and families where a child or parent have a disability are at higher risk of poverty. Despite this, poverty reduction strategies rarely feature as part of an integrated approach to the early years.

Four goals for an ambitious early childhood strategy

Despite the importance of the first five years of a child’s life, public policy continues to focus on school-age children much more so than babies and young children. Policy and practice has not kept pace with changes in both the reality of early childhood and the lives of families with young children.

We are calling on the government to lead the development of an early childhood strategy based on four goals:

  • Goal 1: Services understand and respond to the needs of all families with young children in the round. These services need to provide a continuum of support for parents, from light-touch universal information and guidance to more intensive, sustained support for those in need of additional help.
  • Goal 2: All parents have a choice about how they care for their young children. Empowering choices requires parental leave entitlements and creating family-friendly workplaces, requiring action from both government and employers. It also requires a step change in enabling both mothers and fathers to balance work and care.
  • Goal 3: An early education and care system supports all young children’s learning – in the broadest sense – with a focus on tackling disadvantage. Formal education and childcare is now a near-universal experience for young children. Given the rapid growth of this sector, its complexity and tensions between its objectives, we conclude that a whole system review is needed.
  • Goal 4: A societal commitment to tackling the causes and effects of early childhood poverty. Rates of poverty have risen since 2013 and are highest for families with a child under five – standing at 36%. Addressing early childhood poverty includes quality jobs for parents that enable work-care balance, improving social security benefits and support for parenting and mental health.

Read the full report: Bringing up the next generation: from research to policy

https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/news/nuffield-foundation-calls-for-ambitious-early-childhood-strategy

 

July 14, 2022

2 July 2022 13:30 ~ Silent Vigil to “walk Zara home” – Ilford

Zara Aleena was attacked and killed while walking home early in the morning of Sunday 26 June in East London.

Her friends and family will make a statement to the media and the public this Friday 1 July from a private address in East London from 11.30am.

There will be a silent vigil for Zara this Saturday 2 July from Cranbrook Rise on Cranbrook Road, IG1 4UR, from 2.17pm (Zara was attacked at 2.17am) to “walk Zara back home”.

Members of the public are invited to join the short walk and are asked to wear white.


A Tribute to Zara Aleena by her family, 29 June 2022

“Zara, 35, a beloved human, child, niece, cousin, granddaughter, friend to all, she was a joy to all of us. She was a carer for her mother, and her grandmother. Caring for others came so naturally to her. Zara was friendly, she was everybody’s friend. She was everybody’s daughter, everybody’s niece, everybody’s sister, everybody’s cousin. She was pure of heart.

“She was a joy to all of us, her sparkling eyes and the curly, jet-black hair. Her glorious laughter and her sweet, smiling voice. Her tiny frame embodied a passionate spirit and indomitable energy.

“Zara was brought up by the whole of our family. She was our love in human form. At the age of 5 she said she was going to be a lawyer. Shrieking with joy when she spotted the birds as a child – she would giggle and make us laugh. She was always the bigger person in any situation She was authentic and refused to try and impress anyone but she impressed us. She was the rock of our family. Zara was stoic and held it all together and never complained. She glued our community together. “Nobody worked harder than Zara” is what we heard from all who knew her. Zara was happy and at a point in her life when her joy was radiating and blossoming. She was ready to make a family of her own. Her sense of justice and fairness led her to a life of giving and caring for others – supporting refugees fleeing violence, giving voice to those who had less power. She had that special habit of noticing others in need and always put their needs on her agenda. A carefree spirit, with the most caring heart.

“Zara was happy and at a point in her life that she had worked hard for, she had completed her Legal Practice Course so that she could practise as a solicitor. She only recently started working for the Crown Prosecution Service, to complete her 2-year work placement in order to become a fully qualified solicitor. She was fierce: she didn’t just survive, she thrived.

“She walked everywhere. She put her party shoes in a bag and donned her trainers. She walked. Zara believed that a woman should be able to walk home. Now, her dreams of a family are shattered, her future brutally taken.

“Sadly, Zara is not the only one who has had her life taken at the hands of a stranger. We all know women should be safe on our streets. She was in the heart of her community, ten minutes from home.

“We all need to be talking about what happened to OUR ZARA, we all need to be talking about this tragedy.

“These last few days have been shocking and unimaginable.

“We ask the public to please come forward if you passed through Cranbrook road between 0200 and 0300 on 26th June, Sunday morning. We need to get the man who did this, to stop him.

“In a savage, sickening, act she was murdered by a stranger. She’s not the only woman who has lost her life like this. In the moment of this tragedy, we extend our deepest sympathy and love to the families of Bibaa Henry; Nicole Smallman; Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Ashling Murphy and many more women.

“We must PREVENT and STOP violence against women and girls.

“Our loss is irreparable and the void feels insurmountable but the warmth and kindness that our community has shown is testament to the power of Zara’s spirit. Her life has been stolen from us. She has been stolen from us all.”
REST IN POWER ZARA NATASHA ALEENA.

Information via Million Women Rise

 

July 1, 2022