The Scottish Adult Adoptee Movement (SAAM) was formed by adults adopted in childhood.

In the lead-up to Scotland’s national apology for historical adoption practices, we came together hoping not just to be included in a moment, but to also shape what comes next.

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We worked together  sharing stories, research, and living experience to create a set of formal recommendations for the Scottish Government. These are called the SAAM 2023 Recommendations and Core Circumstances (link above). These have also been handed over to the UK Government as part of our Adoptee Rights UK Campaign. These outline the rights adopted people should have over their identity, history, and legal status. We made it clear: our lives didn’t end with adoption, and our rights shouldn’t either.

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Yet when the apology happened in March 2023, were we, the adult adoptees, some of whom had been the very babies at the heart of the historical adoption practices, even included?  No we were not. The morning of the Apology found us standing outside in protest. Not with anger, but with  strength. We brought signs, the press came, and  joining together in solidarity, we found our voice and made visible our  selves, and our violated human rights.

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We did it because truth matters. Because we are not children anymore. And because no apology for issues relating to adoption is complete if it erases the people who lived through it.

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Let's make links to  other justice issues...

Historic:

2010 UK Apology for Child Migration

2025 Scottish Apology for Historical policies impacting Gypsy/Traveller communities

Ongoing:

Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

Scotland's Promise to all Children

Scotland's ratification of the UNCRC

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and let us note that adult adoptees have been excluded from all these otherwise worthy enterprises. To be excluded from an actual Adoption Apology is the last, radicalising straw.

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If we do not learn now, we may never learn t0 respect human rights in the future.

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​We’re still here, and we’re not finished.