When some 500 survivors of mother and baby homes logged onto a webinar last Tuesday lunchtime, they were confronted with an image of two besuited men either side of an oval table in the Sycamore Room of Government Buildings. Officials wearing facemasks sat socially distanced behind the two men.
); Illegitimate children could contaminate the morals of society so had to be hidden and illegally adopted
Adopted people and survivors of mother and baby homes say forced adoption was widespread, regardless of what the commission says. By Órla Ryan Sunday 17 Jan 2021, 8:00 AM Jan 17th 2021, 8:00 AM 33,005 Views 0 Comments File photo Source: Shutterstock/ChameleonsEye
SURVIVORS AND CAMPAIGNERS have criticised how the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes deals with the issue of adoption.
The long-awaited report – which was published on Tuesday and can be read here - said the commission found “little evidence” of forced adoption.
Another publication laying bare the injustices of the past.
Injustices that continue to have an impact on Irish society today.
The week began with a leak containing aspects of the report by the Commission of Investigation Report into Mother and Baby Homes.
Survivors woke on Sunday to discover some of the information they had waited so long to receive was in the public domain.
They were furious.
It compounded their frustration with an investigative process of which they were weary.
Since 2015, deadlines had been missed due to the workload of the commission, more recently it was affected by Covid-19; yet survivors waited patiently for the final report.
); We were told our mothers were prostitutes and ne er-do-wells. My mother was a senior civil servant, aged 30
Susan Lohan says adopted people have for decades been fed a false narrative about their mothers in the hopes they won’t try to find them. By Órla Ryan Saturday 16 Jan 2021, 10:30 AM Jan 16th 2021, 10:30 AM 119,120 Views 0 Comments
Susan Lohan
Susan Lohan
SUSAN LOHAN HAS been campaigning for the rights of adopted people for 20 years.
She co-founded the Adoption Rights Alliance in 2009 and more recently was appointed to the Mother and Baby Home Collaborative Forum.
The forum was set up in 2018 by then-Minister Katherine Zappone to help inform the Department of Children of survivors’ wishes on legacy issues related to the homes as the commission carried out its work.
Women in homes after 1973 must be eligible for mother and baby redress, ex-residents say National Women’s Council director says there is ‘no rationale’ for such exclusion
Fri, Jan 15, 2021, 03:33
Kitty Holland Social Affairs Correspondent Listen now 6:16
Alice McEvoy (65), who had her daughter in St Patrick’s mother and baby home on Navan Road, Dublin, in 1975. Photograph: Domnick Walsh/Eye Focus LTD
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Women who entered mother and baby homes after 1973 must not be excluded from statutory redress, former residents and their advocates say.