The Scottish Adult Adoptee Movement (SAAM) was formed by adults, adopted in childhood, who had waited too long to be heard.

In the lead-up to Scotland’s national apology for forced adoption, we came together to speak with one voice  not just to be included in the moment, but to shape what comes next.

We worked together  sharing stories, research, and lived experience to create a set of formal recommendations for the Scottish Government. These outlined 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.

But when the apology came in March 2023, adult adoptees were left out. An acknowledgement as the sons and daughters, who remain legally severed. No mention. No place in the healing process for victims and survivors who had been failed and continue to be failed.

So that morning, with anticipation, we stood outside in protest. Not with anger, but with  strength. We brought signs, the press came, and we joined and made ourselves visible.

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