Adoption group in counselling call for former residents of mother-and-baby homes

RTE News
June 11, 2014

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0611/622966-adoption-rights/

Adoption Rights Alliance wants regional counselling services for former residents of mother-and-baby homes

The Adoption Rights Alliance has called for the establishment of counselling services for former residents of mother-and-baby homes in tandem with the promised statutory inquiry.

While cautiously welcoming the Government's commitment to a statutory inquiry, the alliance warned against further delays in providing access to family records and advice on reunions given the age profile of the women who suffered in the homes.

It said the Government should speedily establish regional counselling services.

As well as supporting the call for counselling services, Fianna Fáil's children's spokesman Robert Troy has urged the Government to establish a dedicated helpline that would be accessible to all former residents including those living overseas.

The Justice for Magdalenes research group has asked for Magdalene laundries to be included in the inquiry's terms of reference, citing what it called the “huge traffic” between mother-and-baby homes and the laundries.

It said the Government-appointed McAleese investigation into State involvement with the Catholic-run laundries did not retain records received from the religious orders which operated them.

It also said that its terms of reference prohibited it from investigating individual complaints of abuse or examining fully the religious orders' financial records.

The group also underlined that all four religious orders concerned have refused to apologise or provide compensation.