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:
