A Paisley woman who was forced to give up her baby was praised by MSPs after the Scottish Government apologised for its role in the forced adoption of thousands of children.
Marion McMillan, 74, was forced to give up her baby in the 1960s after falling pregnant at 17.
She had gone to a Salvation Army mother-and-baby home after being ordered from her own family home.
However, the son she loved and cared for was “stolen” from her arms and given to a married couple.
Describing that experience as “a wound of grief that will never heal”, Marion has campaigned for an apology from the Scottish Government for decades.
She watched on Wednesday as Nicola Sturgeon used her last appearance at Fist Minister’s Questions to offer an unreserved apology to the 60,000 Scots mothers affected, their children and the fathers denied of any rights.
This week, Paisley-based MSP Neil Bibby paid tribute to Marion for her fearless determination to find her son and reunite families who have been torn about in similar circumstances.
The West Scotland MSP said: “It is right, and long overdue, that there is a formal apology for the historic injustice of forced adoption, one of the most shameful chapters in Scotland’s history.
“An estimated 60,000 Scottish mothers between the 1950s and 1970s were compelled to give up a baby for adoption simply because they were unmarried.
“These appalling cruelties are among the most heinous injustices that our society has ever inflicted on women. My constituent Marion McMillan, from Paisley, is one of those mothers.
“Marion has worked with other victims of forced adoption from around the world, has reunited mothers with their children, and has given evidence that helped to secure the world’s first government apology for forced adoption in Australia in 2013.
“Marion is now in her 70s and terminally ill, but her dying wish has been to see victims in Scotland receive the apology they deserve.
“I pay heartfelt tribute to Marion and to the thousands of women who have campaigned and fought so long for this apology today – including those for whom it sadly comes too late.”
Marion was eventually reunited with her son 40 years after being forced to give him up. She has spent years raising awareness of the injustices carried out by the state and its partner agencies.
Last March, MSPs wept as Marion and other mothers told their stories of grief and loss at a meeting in Holyrood.
On Wednesday, Ms Sturgeon used her apology to describe Marion as an “ardent campaigner” for the victims of forced adoption.
She said: “To the sons and the daughters, who were separated from their parents, to the fathers who were denied their rights, and to the families who have lived with the legacy, for the decades of pain that you have suffered, I offer today a sincere, heartfelt, and unreserved apology.
“We are sorry. No words can ever make up for what has happened to you. But I hope this apology will bring you some measure of solace. It is the very least that you deserve – and it is long overdue.”
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