Forced adoption of children through the Catholic Church in Belgium

The forced adoption of children through the Catholic Church in Belgium affected young pregnant women sent by their families to give birth in Catholic institutions, who had their children taken from them and then sold to families of reception. The number of affected children was approximately 30,000, between 1945 and 1980.

The Belgian Catholic Church apologized to the victims and the priests involved in this matter were suspended. Tommy Scholtès, spokesman for the Belgian bishops, declared in 2023 that it was not about the sale of children, but rather the families who received the children "contributed financially to the functioning of the religious communities".

History
The issue of forced adoptions of children between 1945 and 1980 in Belgium came to light in 2014. After debates in the Flemish Parliament, apologies from the Belgian Catholic Church and requests investigation, the matter disappeared from the media. The case returned to the public spotlight on the Belgian scene in December 2023 with the podcast Kinderen van de Kerk (Children of the Church), published by the media Het Laatste Nieuws.

According to the Mater Matuta association, 30,000 children, particularly in Flanders were affected by these abandonments and forced adoptions. After giving birth in Catholic institutions, in Belgium or northern France, biological mothers had to abandon their children, who were then sold to adoptive families. It was generally sold to children for between 10000 and 30000 Belgian francs. However, they could have been larger amounts, since there is the case of a child born in the north of France sold by the nuns for the value of 100000 francs.

Women victims of these forced adoptions created the association Mater Matuta. According to this association, public services and certain magistrates became accomplices of the Catholic Church. Mater Matuta claims that adoption agencies exchanged children to prevent them from finding their biological mothers.

Some of the victims speak of humiliation and sexual violence by the nuns, as well as forced sterilizations.