Mother and baby homes: Woman who was forced to give up son would "give anything to meet him again"

Irish Mirror
June 16, 2014

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/mother-baby-homes-woman-who-3702856

'Mother and child' protestors at Cork City Hall yest..

'Mother and child' protestors at Cork City Hall

Three year old Leah Morrison with gran Edel among 'mother and child' protestors at Cork City Hall

A woman locked away in a notorious home and forced to give up her son
for adoption, broke down yesterday and said: “I’d give anything to meet him again.”

The heartbroken mum gave birth to her little boy at Bessborough Mother and Baby Home in Cork more than 40 years ago at the age of 19.

She marched in the city with more than 100 others demanding justice for mothers and children yesterday.

Clutching a brown teddy in memory of the baby she was made to give away, the woman said: “My child was taken out of my arms. I was forced to give him up for adoption. I was told, ‘Get him dressed’.

“I’d give anything to find my son. I’ve tried. I’ve been up to Sister Sarto [in Bessborough], but I’ve just gotten nowhere.

“I was to meet with him one day in an office, but he never came. My son was the innocent victim.

“Once they went into Bessborough they changed our names. I remember mothers in the home and their babies were dying and they didn’t know where their babies went.”

The woman, who asked not to be identified, gathered with other victims at Cork City Hall on Sunday afternoon to call for an independent public enquiry into all mother and baby homes to be overseen by an international body such as the United Nations.

Selina Furlong, from Douglas, Co Cork, told how her mother Annie was born in
Bessborough and was adopted by a family in Douglas. She now suffers Alzheimer’s.

She said attending the protest was her way of showing support for her mother and, “for all the women and babies in these homes”.

She told the Irish Mirror: “My grandmother had no choice but to give her daughter away and my own mother never managed to trace her mother. It’s all very upsetting.

“My grandmother, who grew up on a farm, was put in there at seven months pregnant. I think she stayed with her baby for three weeks.

“She was then told to go to London and was warned by her family not to come
back. She ended up emigrating to Australia, but eventually managed to come back to Ireland to die.

“She passed away at the age of 42.
Apparently she never recovered from having to give up her child.”

Selina welcomed the news that there is to be a full inquiry into the homes.

She said: “A full inquiry is needed. The mums didn’t have a voice. We hide behind so much in this country, I’m sick of it.”

Meanwhile, Edel Morrissey, from Cobh, who was born in St Peter’s Home in Castlepollard, Co Westmeath, was at the protest accompanied by her husband, son, granddaughter and cousin.

She said: “I was born there in 1967 and I was adopted from the home at two-and-a-half months.”

Edel had never spoken publicly about her adoption until she heard about the Tuam babies scandal.

She never felt the need because she has a good mum and dad, had a very happy upbringing and considers herself one of the “lucky ones”.

But Edel said the women and children who were in these homes deserve “justice” in the form of a full public enquiry.

Edel said she had found it “very traumatic” hearing all the stories about the homes
over the past few weeks.

She added: “To see all those nails in the wall at Castlepollard – who ever buried the babies at the time had the decency to put a nail into the wall to let people know how many babies were buried there.”