Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland's Baby Export Business

Home > Other > Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland's Baby Export Business > Page 23
Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland's Baby Export Business Page 23

by Mike Milotte


  For many, if not most adopted people, the purpose of their search is not to establish a permanent relationship with their natural mother, but more modestly to find out the circumstances of their birth and adoption and, if possible, something of their family health history. They feel they need such information so as to move on in their lives. There is no doubt that many searches and reunions do not have happy outcomes, but these can rarely be predicted. Nor, adopted people feel, can the danger of unhappy outcomes in general be used by those in control of information as a justification for withholding it in all cases. As one person put it: ‘We are seeking the truth, and if the truth is bad news, well so be it, it’s still better than a sugar coated lie.’

  The culture of secrecy, which is proving so hard to overcome, also protected men of course. It is conveniently forgotten that for every shamed natural mother there was an anonymous natural father, most of them desperate to cover their tracks. How many of these men occupied positions of power in relation to the women they made pregnant? How many were employers? How many men of the cloth? How many politicians? How many were guilty of incest? How many of sexual assault and rape? How many were other women’s husbands? In the production of tens of thousands of ‘illegitimate’ children in Ireland during these years, how many sexual taboos were broken? And in the determination to keep the doors locked on the adoption files, how many male – and prominent male – reputations were still being protected?

  In Ireland, where the Church-induced culture of secrecy probably went deeper and lasted longer than elsewhere, the tendency for natural mothers – especially those from the earlier years – to remain hidden may well be stronger than research suggests it is elsewhere. Some of the mothers are already dead – as adopted people returning from America have discovered – their pain never acknowledged, their secrets never shared. And as the first edition of this book stated at its conclusion: unless something is done in the very near future to actively encourage and assist the process of reunion, many more of the now elderly natural mothers won’t live long enough for their adopted children to find them. In the intervening years this, sadly, has come to pass in a great many cases, making the final words of the first edition even more compelling: that it seems to be the unstated intention of those who continue to think up excuses for keeping information under lock and key to deny till they die.

  Tables

  Figures for Ireland’s foreign adoptions are far from definitive. The tables below are derived from a database constructed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1997. Because of overlaps and different methods of recording cases down the years, total numbers differ when calculated under different headings. It is important to note that the Department only kept records from the end of 1950 onwards. Approximately 170 entry visas were issued by the American embassy in Dublin between July 1949 and the end of 1950, but there is no record of how many children were taken or sent to America, or anywhere else, before July 1949. There is no record whatever of ‘illegitimate’ Irish children who were adopted in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or taken from those jurisdictions to other countries for adoption. The overwhelming majority (98%) of the recorded foreign adoptions were to America, but children were also sent to 16 other countries.

  Table 1: Annual Total

  Year

  Number of ‘illegitimate’ births

  Number of Adoption Passports

  Foreign adoptions as % of births

  1951

  1588

  122

  7.7

  1952

  1619

  193

  11.9

  1953

  1340

  128

  9.6

  1954

  1310

  182

  13.9

  1955

  1234

  184

  14.9

  1956

  1173

  111

  9.5

  1957

  1032

  122

  11.8

  1958

  976

  146

  15

  1959

  959

  141

  14.7

  1960

  968

  145

  15

  1961

  975

  125

  12.8

  1962

  1111

  107

  9.6

  1963

  1157

  65

  5.6

  1964

  1292

  51

  3.9

  1965

  1403

  43

  3.1

  1966

  1436

  21

  1.5

  1967

  1540

  20

  1.3

  1968

  1558

  10

  0.6

  1969

  1642

  8

  0.5

  1970

  1709

  4

  0.2

  1971

  1842

  1

  0.05

  1972

  2005

  2

  0.1

  1973

  2309

  2

  0.1

  1974

  2515

  0

  0

  TOTAL

  1933

  Note: The annual passport totals have been gathered from a number of Department of Foreign Affairs documents. Annual figures for ‘illegitimate’ births come from the Central Statistics Office. When the 170 US entry visas for July 1949 to the end of 1950 are added the total comes to 2,103.

  Table 2: Destinations by Country

  Aust
ralia

  2

  Austria

  1

  Canada

  2

  Egypt

  1

  France

  1

  Germany

  4

  Great Britain

  18

  India

  2

  Ireland

  6

  Italy

  3

  Lebanon

  2

  Libya

  1

  Peru

  1

  Philippines

  1

  Saudi Arabia

  1

  South Africa

  3

  Turkey

  1

  United States

  1911

  Venezuela

  1

  TOTAL

  1962

  Note: These figures do not include the 170 or so US visas issued between July 1949 and the end of 1950. When these are added the total comes to 2,132. There are some unexplained anomalies with these figures. For example, it is not clear why there should be an entry under ‘Ireland’ unless these were foreign nationals resident here at the time of obtaining a passport for a child they intended adopting in another country. It is also unclear why Great Britain should be included as no passport was necessary to travel there, although it is possible the recipients of the children intended adopting them elsewhere, for example, US military personnel stationed in the UK after World War II who would take children back to America.

  Table 3: American Destination by State

  Alaska

  1

  Missouri

  96

  Arizona

  8

  New Jersey

  233

  California

  116

  New Mexico

  3

  Colorado

  11

  New York

  517

  Connecticut

  28

  North Carolina

  1

  Florida

  5

  North Dakota

  4

  Hawaii

  1

  Ohio

  100

  Idaho

  1

  Oklahoma

  2

  Illinois

  273

  Oregon

  4

  Indiana

  6

  Pennsylvania

  73

  Iowa

  6

  Puerto Rico

  1

  Kansas

  36

  Rhode Island

  4

  Kentucky

  1

  South Dakota

  3

  Louisiana

  30

  Tennessee

  1

  Maine

  1

  Texas

  140

  Maryland

  16

  Virginia

  10

  Massachusetts

  46

  Washington State

  7

  Michigan

  46

  Washington DC

  9

  Minnesota

  7

  Wisconsin

  21

  Mississippi

  27

  Unidentified

  5

  TOTAL

  1900

  Note: These figures do not include the 170 US visas issued between July 1949 and the end of 1950. Their inclusion brings the total to 2,070.

  Table 4: Children’s Origins by Institution

  St Patrick’s Guild 515

  Sean Ross Abbey 438

  Castlepollard 278

  St Patrick’s Home 254

  St Clare’s Stamullen 130

  Sacred Heart Convent Cork 98

  Catholic Women’s Aid Adoption

  Society, Cork 37

  St Joseph’s Convent, Croom 29

  All Protestant Adoption Societies 24

  St Bridget’s Orphanage 14

  Miscellaneous 101

  TOTAL 1918

  Note: When the 1949-50 American visas are added, the total comes to 2,088. The extent to which the Department’s figures understate the actual numbers can be seen from the fact that St Patrick’s Guild’s own records show that they sent 572 children to America for adoption, an addition of 11%. The Guild’s records cover the period from 1947 when they sent their first child to the US.

  Note on Sources

  Documents referred to as the ‘McQuaid Papers’ are in the Dublin Diocesan Archive, Archbishop’s House, Drumcon- dra, Dublin 9. References to archive material from the Department of Foreign Affairs have been abbreviated for convenience. Documents cited are contained in eight large ‘policy files’ located in the National Archive in Dublin. The file titles are as follows:

  345/96/I:

  Enquiries regarding Irish law relating to the adoption of children, 1942-54

  345/96/II:

 
Enquiries regarding Irish law relating to the adoption of children, 1953-57

  345/96/III:

  Enquiries regarding Irish law relating to the adoption of children, 1958-60

  345/96/1/1:

  Report to Government regarding adoption of Irish children abroad, 1956-67

  345/96/1/2:

  National Conference of Catholic Charities: annual meeting 1957

  345/96/545:

 

‹ Prev