Year: 2026
Director: Kate Scholefield
Producers: Calum Leslie, Kate Scholefield
Executive Producer: Lorraine McKechnie
Production Company: Finestripe Productions
Broadcaster: BBC Scotland, BBC Two
Screen Scotland support: The film accessed £150,000 through Screen Scotland’s Broadcast Content Fund.
Synopsis
Told by the separated mothers and children, this landmark documentary reveals the full scale of the UK's forced adoption scandal.
For over four decades in the postwar era, almost 250,000 unmarried women across the UK had their babies forcibly taken for adoption by the state. In July 2026, the government accepted responsibility for the historic actions and apologised to those affected.
Institutions appeared to work together within a system driven by deep-rooted prejudice against women based on their class, race, and marital status.
Stolen Babies reveals the state-built and state-funded structures that enabled this practice to take place across the country for more than four decades, shining a light on one of the most significant human rights injustices of our time.
Told through powerful first-hand testimony from women in Scotland, England and Wales, as well as adoptees, witnesses who worked within the system, and those who exposed it decades later, the film reveals the human impact and the true scale of the scandal for the first time.
More information
Broadcast: Stolen Babies aired on BBC Scotland on Tuesday 1 September, and on BBC Two on Wednesday 2 September 2026.
Streaming: The documentary is available to watch on BBC iPlayer (as of Tuesday 1 September 2026).