Hollywood star’s search for a baby brought focus on Irish adoptions

Publicity surrounding the Hollywood actor Jane Russell and her adoption of an Irish baby angered the then government because it portrayed Ireland as ‘exporting babies’ for the benefit of wealthy Americans who wanted children.

Russell was one of the most famous performers in the world when in November 1951 she adopted Thomas Kavanagh, a 15-month-old born to Irish parents in London.

The adoption almost scuppered her career and led to allegations in the international press that Irish institutions were effectively selling babies to the highest bidder.

Tommy’s mother, Florrie turned up at the Savoy Hotel in London after she heard Russell was looking to adopt an Irish child. The Irish authorities became involved when Russell publicly complained that British law did not allow her to take the child out of Britain, which had stopped the practice in 1948.

MANY CASES OF underage girls who became pregnant and were sent to mother and baby homes were not referred to Gardaí to investigate as statutory rape.

The long-awaited final report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was published today. It called for survivors of the institutions to be given a State apology, redress and access to their birth information.

Although there are some cases of women reporting allegations of their rape to Gardaí cited in the Mother and Baby Home Commission report, it notes that “most of the mother and baby homes and county homes under investigation did not have a policy of reporting underage pregnancies to the Gardaí”.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that it was “striking” that in many cases where underage girls became pregnant, it was not referred to authorities at the time.

“Clearly statutory rape was involved,” he said at a press briefing this afternoon. “It’s just extraordinary that no one even thought for a second, it seems from personal testimonies, that these issues should be pursued.”

While adoption represents the possibility of creating a new happy family, it is no less difficult for some adopted children. This is the case of Brigitta, a young woman of 28 adopted at the age of two in Romania by French parents. But thanks to his perseverance and the work of the association "The way to us", she has achieved the unthinkable: to find her biological mother. http://lecheminjusquanous.com/

A STATE APOLOGY, redress and access to their birth information should be given to survivors of mother and baby homes, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation has recommended.

The commission’s long-awaited final report – which can be read here – was published today.

The document, spanning 2,865 pages, details the experiences of women and children who lived in 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes – a sample of the overall number of homes – between 1922 and 1998.

It confirms that about 9,000 children died in the 18 homes under investigation – about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions.

The report notes: “In the years before 1960 mother and baby homes did not save the lives of ‘illegitimate’ children; in fact, they appear to have significantly reduced their prospects of survival. The very high mortality rates were known to local and national authorities at the time and were recorded in official publications.”

The fostering system or ‘boarding out’ of children began in the era of the Workhouse, where boys and girls of working age were routinely fostered out to farmers in the neighbouring townlands to assist in household and farm duties.

This system became popular in the era of the Mother and Baby Homes in Ireland.

With the closing of the Glenamaddy Workhouse/Hospital in 1925, the Bon Secours Sisters who nursed there were asked by the Galway Health Board to come to the Tuam Workhouse to run it as a Mother and Baby Home.

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Allegations that large sums of money were paid to adopt children held in Mother and Baby Homes are “impossible to prove and impossible to disprove”, the Mother and Baby Homes Commission has found.

Official records show that between 1922 and 1998, 1,638 children who were resident in mother and baby homes and four county homes were placed for foreign adoption – 1,427 children went to the US.

Noting that “many allegations have been made” about payments, the commission said it is unlikely that there would be any documentary evidence of any such transactions.

Some of the language used by those looking to adopt was “crass”, the commission said. “Some had an undue sense of entitlement – they were good people and should be given a child. Others were very specific in their requirements.”

One woman told Galway County Council that she wanted a blonde, blue-eyed girl. “Such language displays a sense of entitlement, but it does not necessarily mean that they were ‘buying’ children,” the commission found.

Authorities in Uzbekistan have revealed that they recorded 185 cases of babies being bought and sold between 2017 and 2020.

Interior Ministry representative Nargiza Khojiboyeva said in a briefing on January 12 that in the majority of such cases, mothers had resorted to this extreme act because of financial and social insecurity.

Across the board, figures on human trafficking point to a positive trend. If 574 cases of human trafficking were recorded in 2012, that had dropped to 74 by 2020, according to the Interior Ministry.

Children remain acutely exposed, however.

A report produced in December by the National Commission on Combating Human Trafficking and Forced Labor concluded that 31 percent of women who sold a newborn child did so because of their “social and economic situation.” Fifty-two percent are said to have done it for financial gain.

THE LEADER OF the Catholic Church in Ireland has “unreservedly” apologised to the survivors of mother and baby homes following the publication of the long-awaited final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

Archbishop Eamon Martin said he accepts that the Church was clearly part of that culture in which people were “frequently stigmatised, judged and rejected”.

“For that, and for the long-lasting hurt and emotional distress that has resulted, I unreservedly apologise to the survivors and to all those who are personally impacted by the realities it uncovers,” Martin said in a statement issued this evening.

Martin called on all those who are in positions of leadership in the Church to study the report carefully and “identify, accept and respond to the broader issues which the Report raises about our past, present and future”.

The report details the experiences of women and children who lived in 14 mother and baby homes and four county homes – a sample of the overall number of homes – between 1922 and 1998. It confirms that about 9,000 children died in the 18 homes under investigation – about 15% of all the children who were in the institutions.

In Hawaii, like much of the world during the COVID-19 Pandemic, people hoping to grow or start a family are finding themselves stunted.

For the longest time, solutions were found overseas, but people wanting to adopt are now waiting longer and looking locally for answers.

Each year, CEO Kristine Altwies says her adoption agency Hawaii International Child (now called A Family Tree) finds homes for about 75 children from countries like China, the Philippines and Japan. But during the pandemic, that number has fallen to 20.

"There's the issue of the orphans not being able to leave the orphanage to come home. There's the issue of American citizens not being able to travel abroad to pick up the children. And then there's the issue of the US immigration authority not issuing the travel visas for the orphans to come here to their families," Altwies said.

Some of the big challenges says Altwies are clients having to wait at least another year to be together, if not longer.

My dear Family in India and America--I was thinking of my favorite Prakash Chitha (Uncle) on his Memorial Day—

I always loved his visits to my home as a little girl. Our house would suddenly become loud and jovial with his presence. He never came empty-handed—Always some type of gift for all the kids in the house. May have been as simple as a small 1-rupee treat.

He was an ambitious entrepreneur, a kind soul with a great sense of humor. I hope he looks down on us from heaven and remembers the wonderful memories he has created in each of us---I miss him very much!