The care-leavers who faced "abhorrent" racism fighting to be acknowledged

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:08]When I'm one year old, the matron says, "Philip is such a poor specimen of humanity, and there are doubts about my intelligence." The reason I wasn't adopted because or fostered was because I was not white.

[00:00:26]From the moment he was born, Phil Frampton was treated with prejudice and discrimination because of the color of his skin.

[00:00:35]He'd been born in a home for unmarried mothers in Cornwall in the 50s, a place of secrecy and suffering.

[00:00:41]>> They would be dragged up, may maybe dragged in there because many knew what was going to happen. So they'd be put placed in there and left in that room, locked in the room so they could watch their baby being taken away.

[00:00:55]A long-running ITV News investigation has gathered shocking testimony from across Britain.

[00:01:01]>> You're marked. You carry that stigma.

[00:01:03]You carry it for the rest of your life.

[00:01:07]The chances of adoption are almost negligible. It shows that I was thought of as a problem and they knew that I would very likely spend a long long time in an institution.

[00:01:20]>> So racism from the start really.

[00:01:22]>> Absolutely.

[00:01:25]I love this shot is this is me and when I was a little baby at Rose Monday >> from the moment he was born. Phil Frampton's care records show he was treated with prejudice and discrimination because of the color of his skin.

[00:01:40]>> I was 10 days old when they wrote in this report and it said full name of candidate Frampton Philip Roy. Ever had fits or measles?

[00:01:51]No. Dtheria? No. Immunized. No. Any other physical defects or maladies?

[00:01:59]Half cast.

[00:02:01]>> Despite having no disabilities, Phil was sent to a home for disabled children, then later moved between orphanages and children's homes. His files show he was deemed unadoptable by the state.

[00:02:15]>> We're very sorry. There is no, we cannot find anyone in the southwest who is prepared to adopt a half coffeeed child. When I'm one year old, the matron said, "Phillip is such a poor specimen of humanity and there are doubts about my intelligence. The reason I wasn't adopted because or fostered was because I was not white."

[00:02:45]Phil had been born in a home for unmarried mothers in Cornwall called Rose Mundy in 1953. A place of secrecy and suffering where women were forced to put up their children for adoption. They would be dragged up may maybe dragged in there because many knew what was going to happen. So they'd be put placed in there and left in that room, locked in the room so they could watch their baby being taken away. It was the crulest thing that could possibly imagine. His mother had fled there, pregnant and unmarried, but found no kindness, instead labeled a fallen woman. Her story echoes that of an estimated 250,000 women whose babies were taken in the 1950s,60s, and 70s simply because they were unmarried. They were told their children would be better off, have better lives without them. The reality was far different. One of the things on it that really hurt me, it said, "It can hear." I was considered colored. Colored was the phrase then, and I wasn't considered correct for adoption through the home.

[00:03:55]>> Our longunning ITV News investigation has gathered shocking testimony from across Britain.

[00:04:01]>> Margaret recalls her own bleak start to life, spending years in an orphanage.

[00:04:06]What impact would you say this has had throughout your life?

[00:04:10]>> I say I carry a hole in my soul with it.

[00:04:12]You're marked. You carry that stigma.

[00:04:14]You carry it for the rest of your life.

[00:04:16]The repercussions of it.

[00:04:18]>> In Cumbria in the 1960s, Carmon was born in a church run home for unmarried mothers.

[00:04:25]>> She says archive documents show her mother was led to believe she'd be adopted almost immediately. That was a lie. reading some of it, it's quite harrowing. You probably know that the child is very dark and that the chances of adoption are almost negligible. It shows that I was thought of as a problem and they knew that I would very likely spend a long long time in an institution.

[00:04:52]>> So racism from the start really.

[00:04:55]>> Absolutely. She was eventually adopted aged two and had a happy childhood, but questions over her identity always loomed large. Our analysis of government archives, newspaper clippings, and journals from the 1960s show racism was widespread throughout the adoption system. One study from the 1960s describes the improbability of adoption for non-white children, concluding it presents a fairly serious problem in a few areas. While newspaper articles from Home Office archives detail how children were not placed for adoptions because their skins looked different, describing the babies as the new faces in the children's homes of Britain, the faces which don't fit outside. Another from 1968 said the reluctance to adopt was due to fear of what the neighbors will think looming large. For those who were placed with families, academics discussed adjustment issues. A little girl comparing the color of her skin with that of her adoptive parents was found trying to scrub her hands and arms white with soap powder. The assumption was black children could not be adopted basically. And as I say, most of the black children, the children of color were in fact of mixed heritage.

[00:06:19]>> Working as a child care officer in Oxford in the 1960s, part of June Thoborn's job was to collect babies from homes for unmarried mothers. She recalls the inherent prejudice within the adoption system.

[00:06:33]>> I was unhappy uh for the suffering that I saw. To be honest, I was part of that society.

[00:06:42]I I think we were a racist society.

[00:06:46]>> And some of the systemic practices from that time were abhorrent.

[00:06:50]>> Others uh in in in the nursery, for instance, when they were considering whether this particular child on my case load could be placed for adoption and they have uh white adopters. and the nursery staff would uh look at the and say, "Well, well, you have to look at the fingernails." Some of the mixed race children were brought up to pass for white. Basically, >> we were orphanage children. We cared for each other.

[00:07:23]>> Phil describes parts of his childhood in care as brutal and it's had a lasting impact.

[00:07:29]>> All I had was a black skin. I was look a lot blacker than I do now. I was being abused and called all sorts just because of the color of my skin.

[00:07:44]>> There is now growing pressure for the church and the state who played central roles in these cruel practices to formally apologize and support those who continue to suffer. Those who experienced racism at every turn say their trauma must also be recognized.

[00:08:02]>> This is not like it was like 200 years ago. This is recent. This is part in people's memories. It's in my living memory. And when people say, "Oh, you should move on. Why? Why? What? What from?" Yeah. It's my life. The Church of England, which was connected to mother and baby homes like Rose Mundy, where Phil was born, condemned any instance of racism as abhorrent and said it has no place in the life of the church. While the government said it is deeply disturbing that racism played a part in these appalling cases and said it's providing support to those affected.

[00:08:40]Sarah Corker, ITV News.