From ‘Nobody's Child’ to Somebody's Child: changing concepts and consequences of birth outside marriage

As part of a short series of Coram Society events marking the centenary of the Adoption of Children Act (1926), this ‘Tea and Talk’ invites you to explore how ideas about birth outside marriage have shifted over time, and with what consequences.

Acclaimed historian and author Jane Robinson will draw on her work on illegitimacy to examine long histories of stigma, secrecy, and exclusion. We will also hear from distinguished social policy academic Professor Harriet Ward, Honorary Research Fellow at the Rees Centre, University of Oxford, about the consequences of illegitimacy and her ongoing research on the history of adoption.

The discussion will also consider social attitudes towards birth outside marriage today, as part of Coram’s wider exploration of the social changes that shaped and continue to shape the history of adoption in the UK.