The Shame is Ours : Forced Adoptions of the Babies of Unmarried Mothers in Post-War Canada

Summary: "Post-war Canada was harshly judgemental of unmarried mothers, who faced enormous social and institutional pressure to give up their babies to "traditional" couples looking to establish their own nuclear families between the end of the war and the early 1970s. Unmarried women who had become pregnant were sometimes forced to go to maternity homes - supported by federal funds - to deliver their babies in relative secrecy. Many women had difficult experiences in these homes even before their newborns were taken from them. The committee's report makes four recommendations, including that the federal government deliver a formal apology in Parliament within a year, and that it make reparations that would include professional counselling for survivors of Canada's forced adoption practices'--Provided by publisher.