Guardian news editor David Batty spent years longing to meet his birth mother. But his reunion with the woman who had been forced to give him up was far from the fairytale he had imagined. He explains why the legacy of forced adoption continues to cast such a long shadow

David Batty was seven years old when he was told he had been adopted. Years later, after learning more about his birth parents, he wanted to meet them. But when he was reunited with his mother, who had been forced to give him up, their relationship became strained.

Batty tells Annie Kelly how he came to be one of tens of thousands of children whose birth mothers were coerced into relinquishing them for adoption, often in the name of child’s “moral welfare”. The Church of England has apologised for its role in forced adoptions, and the government has indicated it will follow suit.