ROME – Irish government issues controversial report to explain why it was wrong for tens of thousands of unmarried mothers to be forced into state-funded Catholic homes to give their babies up for adoption between the years 1920 and 1990. The report states that up to 9,000 children died in 14 houses run by Catholic nuns, but gives rare reasons. In the nearly 3,000-page volume, the government blames unmarried mothers, their families and society at large, angering a number of victims who have called it “whitening”.
Some reports suggested that the original report was 4,000 pages and that 1,000 pages were cut before it was published to the public.
“The women in the mother’s and children’s homes should not have been there. She should have been home with their families, ”said the report from the Irish Commission for Mothers and Children. “However, the reality is that most of them had no choice – they were or expected to be rejected by their families and needed a place to stay. Most of them failed to take care of the child. They were not “imprisoned” in the strict sense of the word, but, at least in previous years, with some justification, they thought they were. They were always free to leave if they took their child. ”
The long report is full of grim details about the inhabitants of the houses. One, named “Resident (A)”, was raped by her boyfriend and became pregnant at 18 years old. “He told the commission he saw” about 10 “dead babies being sent to the funeral in what appeared to be shoe boxes.”
Another person named “Resident (H)” says she became pregnant at the age of 20 as a result of rape. “When he visited the parish priest to tell his story, he says that the priest sexually assaulted her in his car,” the report said. “The Castlepollard medical officer examined her once a week: ‘I hated him; it was so harsh, it used to examine me internally from the back passage, and I was in pain for centuries after that. ”
Throughout the report, the authors refer to the practices of the “times” and the stigma of unwanted mothers, with little mention of either fathers or the fact that the last mothers’ house closed only in the late 1990s. The report focused on 56,000 unmarried mothers, some as young as 12 and 57,000 children born in the homes of mothers and babies, but admits there are likely to be another 25,000 unmarried mothers and more children in homes that were not investigated by the commission.
The report does not fully explain why the remains of 767 fetuses and babies were found in a septic system at the Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Galway County, blaming infant mortality and lack of burial records.
“A number failed to keep track of the funerals of children who died,” the report said. “It is very difficult for the Commission to believe that there is no one in that congregation who does not know about the burial of children. Similarly, the commission believes that there should be people in Tuam who know more about funerals there. “
The report also comes from a house in Bessborough, where many other human remains have been found. “The Commission finds it very difficult to understand the apparent inability of any member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary to help locate the burial places of children who have died in Bessborough,” the authors found.
An interim report published in April 2019 provided grim details that led to the final report. “The memorial garden contains human remains dating back to the operation of the Tuam orphanage, so it is likely that a large number of children who died in the Tuam home will be buried there,” the April report said. to other human remains found in a household waste treatment area. “The human remains found by the commission are not in a sewer tank, but in a second 20-chamber structure that was built inside the disused large sewer tank.”
Those remains “involved a number of individuals with the age at death ranging from about 35 fetal weeks to 2-3 years,” the report said. The interim report also says its authors were “surprised by the lack of knowledge about the funerals of Galway County Council and the sisters in Bon Secours who ran the house.”
The controversial Houses for Mothers and Babies are featured in the film Philomena, which tells the story of a woman looking for her son who was adopted by an American couple.
Terri Harrison, originally from Dublin, woke up in a house after she became pregnant and moved to London to be “kidnapped” by the nuns who returned her to Ireland. She described to the commission the awful details of her time there. “Your child was put in the locked nursery, they opened those doors only at feeding time,” she said, according to Dublin Live. “And then you weren’t allowed to hold your baby or hug him, because the nun still reminds you that she would upset your son’s mom and dad if the baby got used to you.”
She says she can never forget the terrible screams of children even when one of them suddenly disappeared. “I remember the screams and I will take them to the grave. You always knew when a child was missing from kindergarten, “she said. “It’s the strangest sound you’ve ever heard, like animals in the wild. I remember when I found her crib empty, the same sound came out of me, but it didn’t sound like me. ”
Mari Steed, now 60, was one of the babies born in a home in Cork. She told NBC News that, as an adult, she learned that she and other children born in a home were part of what she called an “extremely unethical” vaccine trial in which she was injected with experimental diphtheria. , whooping cough, tetanus and polio – all of which are expected to be highlighted in the final report issued on Tuesday. “Scientifically, I understand that there is no more perfect research group than a group of captive children. But this requires enormous ethical protocols, and this simply has not been followed, “Steed, who was adopted by an American family, told NBC. “Whether it was out of sheer ignorance or ‘We don’t give a shit about what happens to those kids’ – that part of me still angers me.”
The report acknowledges the processes. “It is clear that the relevant ethical and regulatory standard of the time was not respected, because the consent was obtained neither from the mothers of the children nor from their guardians, and the necessary licenses were not in force”, the report states. “Who is the guardian, however, is largely irrelevant, as no attempt seems to have been made to seek the consent of the parents or guardians. There is no evidence of injury to children involved as a result of vaccines. ”
The Vatican said it would not comment on the report until it read it.
The report is the result of six years of work by Judge Yvonne Murphy, who has compiled shared experiences of thousands of women in order to obtain compensation from the government.
The final report should pave the way for legislation presented by Irish Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman, who wants to ensure the exhumation, identification and burial of all bodies found in the 18 homes. This legislation could also lead to compensation for victims, many of whom have searched all their lives to find out if their newborns have been adopted or have mysteriously died and been buried in nameless graves.
Taoiseach of Ireland, or Prime Minister Micheal Martin, addressed the victims in a video conference before publishing the public report. He is expected to apologize publicly to the victims during a parliamentary session on Wednesday.