The Role of Mother and Baby Homes in the Adoption of Children Born Outside Marriage in Twentieth-Century England and Wales

Abstract

This article looks at the role of mother and baby homes in the twentieth century in providing unmarried pregnant girls with accommodation and support while making decisions about their future, one option being to have their children adopted. It examines staffing and conditions, funding and management and the need that kept homes in existence until about 1970. It proposes that the unforgiving attitude of families and rejection of the girls by the community, a reverse of their usual supporting roles, influenced decisions to place children for adoption. Within the homes, the beliefs and ethics of the organisers and the freedom of matrons to make third party arrangements were important. External factors were high illegitimacy rates during two wars, pregnant war workers and service personnel wanting to make a new start during the second war, the pull of childless parents and, finally, the social climate of the 1960s.