An ITV News investigation by Sarah Corker and Lottie Kilraine revealed that “nearly 70 babies are buried in mass unmarked graves after dying in a Salvation Army-run institution for unmarried mothers in Newcastle.”

Hopedene Maternity Home operated between 1950 and 1973. Families have described it as “a ‘place of cruelty’ and ‘like a prison’.” These children, born and died at the home, were buried in Elswick Cemetery without markers. Some families were not even told. The truth only emerged decades later through Freedom of Information requests.

Why this matters

This is not just about one home. It is part of a wider pattern of forced adoption in Britain. From the 1950s through the 1970s, thousands of unmarried mothers were separated from their children because they were deemed socially unacceptable. Unmarked graves and hidden records are the physical evidence of that discrimination and neglect.

What the investigation found

• 67 babies were discovered buried without markers in Elswick Cemetery. Families were often unaware of where their children lay.
• Families told ITV that “there was a lack of love and respect given to those mothers and their babies.”
• Infant deaths at Hopedene were significantly higher than Newcastle’s average, even as maternity care was improving nationally.
• Testimonies allege that some sick or premature babies were left to die because they were not considered “desirable” for adoption.
• Newcastle City Council at first reported 24 graves, later admitting they had “missed” 43 after ITV pressed them with further evidence.

The wider pattern

These revelations echo discoveries elsewhere in the UK. Institutions called “homes” often operated more like workhouses. Pregnant women were forced to scrub floors, denied pain relief, and forbidden from holding their newborns. Adoption was presented as the only path, often enforced through stigma and coercion. In 2021, a parliamentary committee concluded the government bore responsibility and recommended an apology. Survivors still wait.

Accountability today

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has called for an official apology for the state’s role in this “terrible tragedy.” Newcastle City Council and the Salvation Army have expressed regret, citing old burial registers and archival gaps. But apologies are not enough. Survivors and families need transparency, access to records, and support. Every delay compounds the trauma.

Our perspective

At The Reasonable Adjustment, we see a recurring pattern. Whether it is disability rights today or mother and baby homes in the past, institutions deny or minimise harm until evidence makes the truth undeniable. Transparency is not charity. It is obligation. And it is long overdue.

The hypocrisy cannot be ignored. What kind of morality claims to be protecting society, yet allows newborns to be denied care and consigned to unmarked graves simply because they were born outside wedlock? If the Church and the State truly believed these children were a stain on respectability, then at least let them grow and prosper — let them live as so-called illegitimate children of the Church — instead of treating their lives as disposable. Allowing babies to be left to die through neglect to preserve appearances was never righteous. It was cruelty dressed up as morality.

Personal note

On a personal note, this kind of hypocrisy is why I find it hard to align myself with any religion, even though in recent years I have started to believe we may have some form of creator. Religion itself, and the communities that grow around it, fascinate me. The politics that institutions wrap around faith do not. When faith is twisted into cruelty, it stops being about belief and starts being about control.

If you have been affected

ITV News has shared links to specialist support services including PAC UK, Safe Spaces, and adoption survivor networks. If you or someone you know has been affected, please reach out. No one should carry this history alone.