Sally C Ells💚☘️

A child can never give consent to sexual activity. If abuse happened to you, it was never your choice and it was never your fault. No matter what you said, did or didn’t do at the time, responsibility always lies with the person who abused you.

✨ Joy is resistance. For adoptees, choosing joy isn’t ignoring the complexity, it’s reclaiming space to feel, to celebrate, and to exist beyond survival. Joy is proof that healing is happening, even in small moments.

We often hear from survivors that childhood trauma can continue to impact life well into adulthood. Non-recent childhood abuse is just as serious as recent abuse, and its impacts can be just as strong. We are here for every survivor - no matter how long ago the abuse happened.

Delighted to see my paper on paediatric cardiac surgery, @AlderHeyCharity and @AlderHey from 1948 to 1991 published and selected as Editor's Choice in @MedHums_BMJ! Part of a special issue edited by Ellen Stewart and @jenny_crane. #OpenAccess here: mh.bmj.com/content/51/4

Last year, 91 young people who left care took their own lives. That’s just the number we know about — and we all know there are more. This is why I will never stop fighting to make care experience a protected characteristic alongside my friend and colleague Terry Galloway, and together we will not stop. The government already has the evidence. It has the data. It has the stories. So the question is no longer what do we need? — it’s how many more lives have to be lost before action is taken? I have huge respect for colleagues in government, including Josh MacAlister, and I know he is working hard to support this movement. But extending corporate parenting alone is not enough. Not even close. It is time — long past time — to listen to people with lived experience. Because children in care are not broken. The system is. And until that truth is acted on, more young people will be failed, and more families will be grieving when they shouldn’t have to. @SkyNews @NickMartinSKY @TerryGalloway

When abuse happens again in adulthood, it reflects the abuser’s harmful actions - never the survivor’s experiences or choices. Yes, trauma can shape how we see the world and connect with others, but responsibility for abuse always lies with the abuser.

@DonaldClarke63 Even adoption societies at the time agreed with this sentiment. I dug out an archival exchange between the government and representative body from 1951 a couple of years ago which showed that they knew there was a lack of genuine choice. youtube.com/watch?v=AX5HcJ…

@DonaldClarke63 Pauline may not have advocated for an apology, but she was on the receiving end of the injustice for which so many others are - rightly - campaigning for one. It wasn't 'society', and all affected weren't teenage girls. It was a broad spectrum of experiences.

With all the tributes flooding in about Pauline Collins it’s worth remembering that she was an unmarried mother whose child was adopted after going to a mother and baby home in the 1964. Another who won’t hear the apology from the government she deserved.

@itvnews @LKilraine @CommonsHealth

This heightened state of stress is a natural response to living in an unpredictable environment and can shape how people experience relationships, emotions and daily life. #AbuseSurvivor #ChildhoodTrauma #HealingJourney #SupportForSurvivors #SurvivorSupport

On @BBCPoliticsLDN this Sunday were @LiamConlon2, @jeremycorbyn and @policylaila all agreeing on the need for a state apology for historic forced adoption. Including interviews with Ann Andic and @uk_karen You can watch it from 22:30 on @BBCiPlayer. bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…

💬 “Get over it, it was a long time ago” That phrase is dismissive and damaging. Abuse changes how the brain and body respond to the world and those effects can last for decades. #TraumaRecovery #EmotionalHealing #SupportSurvivors #AbuseSurvivor #MentalHealthMatters

There were six boys in my dorm at the children’s home. Only two of us are still alive. Years of sexual abuse and neglect drove the others to take their own lives. And yet, in 2025, our most vulnerable children in care are still treated like second-class citizens — exploited by predators, manipulated by criminal gangs, and ignored by those with the power to protect them. Certain people in government continue to look the other way, refusing to use their authority to end this catastrophe. You know who you are. Do the noble thing — resign.

It was an honour to interview @clairethrossell for @itvnews who has tirelessly campaigned to change parental rights for abusive partners, after her 2 sons were murdered by their father during a court ordered visit. The PM promised the law WILL change itv.com/watch/news/mot…

National Adoption Week 2025 (#NAWK2025) is here, using #AWelcomeHome. The home has an ugly history in adoption: Thousands of young, unmarried women were welcomed into state-funded homes which took their baby. Their children being adopted in the homes of poorly vetted strangers.

Social Affairs Correspondent @SarahCorkerNews investigates one of the biggest medical disasters in NHS history and the ongoing fight for justice and compensation for @ITVTonight Watch 'Toxic Legacy: Our Hidden Drug Scandal' on Thursday September 11th at 8.30pm on ITV1 and @ITVX

Campaigners from @AdoptionApology met with @bphillipsonMP at @educationgovuk today to discuss the injustice of historic forced adoptions. @SarahCorkerNews provides coverage and commentary. What next for @UKLabour and @Keir_Starmer? itv.com/news/2025-10-1…

Forced adoption campaigners describe today’s meeting with @bphillipsonMP as a ‘positive step forward’ in their fight for justice and a public apology. Members of @AdoptionApology met with the SOS at Westminster for the first time, & have been promised a meeting with the PM next.

Adoption isn’t a one-time event it’s something we carry through every season of life. As adoptees grow, new layers of understanding (and pain) can surface: 💭 Identity questions in adolescence 💔 Triggers in relationships or parenthood 🌑 Grief that returns in unexpected moments