ROME: The Irish government has published a controversial report to try to explain why it was not right for tens of thousands of single mothers to be forced into state-funded Catholic homes to give their babies up for adoption between the 1920s and ninety. The report indicates that up to 9,000 children died in 14 homes run by Catholic nuns, but gives few reasons. In the nearly 3,000-page volume, the government blames single mothers, their families, and society at large, infuriating several victims who have called it “money laundering.”
Some reports have suggested that the original report was 4,000 pages long and that 1,000 pages were cut before it was published to the public.
“Women in mothers ‘and babies’ homes should not have been there. They should have been home with their families, “says the report from the Irish House and Baby Commission.” However, the reality is that most had no choice: they were received or expected to were rejected by their families and needed a place to stay.Most could not care for the baby.They were not “imprisoned” in the strict sense of the word, but at least in the early years, with some justification, they thought “Yes, they were always free to leave if they took their son.”
The long report is full of grim details about the residents of the houses. One, known as “Resident (A)”, was raped by her boyfriend and became pregnant at 18 years old. He told the commission he saw that “about ten” dead babies were being sent to be buried in what looked like shoe boxes.
Another person named “Resident (H)” says she became pregnant at age 20 as a result of a rape. “When she visited the rector to tell her the story, she says the priest sexually assaulted her in her car,” the report states. “Castlepollard’s doctor examined her once a week:“ I hated her; it was so rough that I used to examine myself internally from the back passage and I was sore for centuries. “
Throughout the report, the authors refer to practices “of the times” and the stigma of single mothers with little mention of fathers or the fact that mothers ’last home closed only in the late 1990s. The report focused on 56,000 single mothers, some as young as 12, and 57,000 children born in the mother’s and baby’s homes, but admits there were probably 25,000 more single mothers and more children in households than the commission did not investigate. .
The report does not explain in depth why the remains of 767 fetuses and babies were found in a septic system at the home of the mother and baby in Tuam, County Galway, instead of blaming infant mortality and lack of funeral records.
“A number could not keep any record of the burials of children who died,” the report states. “It is very difficult for the commission to believe that there is no one in this congregation who is not aware of the burials of the children. In the same way, the commission considers that there should be people in Tuam who know more about the burials ”.
The report also reaches a house in Bessborough where many other human remains were found. “At the commission it is 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 sites of children who died in Bessborough,” the authors found.
An interim report released in April 2019 gave shallow details down to the final report. “The site of the memorial garden contains human remains dating back to the period of operation of the Tuam Children’s Home, so it is likely that a large number of the children who died at the Tuam House were buried there,” the report states. April and referred to below. to other human remains found in a household waste treatment area. “The human remains found by the commission are not in a wastewater tank, but in a second structure with 20 chambers that was built inside the large dismantled wastewater tank.”
These remains “involved a number of individuals aged at death from about 35 fetal weeks to 2-3 years,” according to the report. The interim report also says its authors were “surprised by the ignorance about the burial by the Galway County Council and the Bon Secours sisters who ran the house.”
The controversial Mother and Baby Homes appears in the film Philomena, which tells the story of a woman looking for her son who was adopted by an American couple.
Dublin-born Terri Harrison found herself in a home after becoming pregnant and moving to London, to be “kidnapped” by nuns who returned her to Ireland. He described to the commission the horrible details of his passage there. “Your son was put in the closed nursery, they just opened those doors when it came to feeding,” he said, according to Dublin Live. “And then you weren’t allowed to hold your baby or hug him because the nun kept reminding you that it would bother your child’s mom and father if the baby got used to you.”
He says he can never forget the horrible screams of the children and when one of them suddenly disappeared. “I remember the screams and I will take them to my grave. You always knew when a baby was missing in daycare, “he said.” It’s the strangest sound you’ll ever hear, like wild animals. I remember when I found his crib empty, I got the same sound, but I didn’t looked like “.
Mari Steed, now 60, was one of the babies born in a Cork home. She told NBC News that as an adult, she learned that she and other home-born babies were part of what she called a “highly unethical” vaccine trial in which she was injected with experimental shots against diphtheria. , whooping cough, tetanus and poliomyelitis: all that is expected to be mentioned in the final report published on Tuesday. “Scientifically I understand that there is no research group more perfect than a group of captive children. But that requires huge ethical protocols, and that just wasn’t followed, ”said Steed, who was adopted by an American family.“ Whether that was out of sheer ignorance or if “We don’t do shit what the happen to those kids, “that part still makes me angry.”
The report acknowledges the judgments. “It is clear that the relevant ethical and regulatory norm of the time was not complied with, as neither the mothers of the children nor their guardians were obtained and the necessary licenses were not in force,” the report. “Who the guardian is, however, is largely irrelevant as it appears that no attempt has been made to seek parental or guardian consent. There is no evidence of injuries to the children involved as a result of the vaccines.”
The Vatican has said it will not comment on the report until it has 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 with the aim of receiving compensation from the government.
The final report is supposed to pave the way for legislation introduced by Irish Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman, who wants to ensure the exhumation, identification and burial of all bodies found in the 18 houses. This legislation could also lead to compensation for victims, many of whom have searched all their lives to find out if their babies were adopted or mysteriously died and were buried in nameless graves.
Taoiseach or Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin addressed the victims in a video conference before releasing the report to the public. He is expected to apologize publicly to the victims during a parliamentary session on Wednesday.