Man born in mother and baby home to sue State over redress

A man who spent the first two weeks of his life in a mother and baby home is planning a legal challenge against the State for excluding people who lived less than six months in an institution from its redress scheme.

The man, who wants to be known by his birth name, Paul, has put Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman on notice of judicial review proceedings.

He lived in a mother and baby home until he was two weeks old, after which he was taken for adoption.

The man was reunited with his birth mother, Maria Arbuckle, a campaigner for survivors of mother and baby homes, for the first time this year.

Ms Arbuckle was among the survivors who protested against the long-awaited redress scheme announced last month by the Government.

Under the scheme, survivors of mother and baby homes will be eligible for payments of up to €65,000 and an enhanced medical card scheme.

The redress will extend to mothers and children who lived for six months or more in institutions. Children who lived for less than six months in the facilities are not eligible.

Ms Arbuckle has previously recounted how she felt forced to give the baby she named Paul up for adoption.

Raised in care, she was 18 and living in St Joseph’s Training School in Middleton, Co Armagh, when she became pregnant.

She was moved to St Patrick’s mother and baby home in Dublin in January 1981. She gave birth to her son at St James’s Hospital on March 10, and afterwards, she and her baby returned to St Patrick’s.

Paul was two weeks old when he was removed from his mother and taken to Northern Ireland for adoption by social workers connected to St Joseph’s Training School.

Ms Arbuckle later said she felt she had no option but to sign her baby’s adoption papers.

She had been looking for him for years, and they finally met for the first time last March.

Solicitors for Paul wrote to Mr O’Gorman last week to put him on formal notice of judicial review proceedings if the redress scheme is not changed.

The firm, KRW Law, claims the exclusion of children who spent less than six months in an institution breaches equality legislation, as there “is no justifiable reason for the distinction” between someone who spent two weeks or six months in an institution.

The letter also claims the decision breaches Paul’s human rights, and that there is no provision to include exceptional cases in the scheme.

Thirty experts in childhood trauma have questioned the scientific basis for the exclusion of those who lived less than six months in a mother and baby home.

In an open letter to the minister, the experts said childhood trauma has the greatest impact early in childhood because of the rapid growth in brain development.

The letter says that “to state that young children, who might have been in mother and baby homes for a period of two to three months early in life were less impacted by those who spent longer, is simply not scientifically correct”.

It adds: “Indeed, the opposite is true. The earlier the impact of trauma, the more long-lasting the effects.

The experts have asked the minister to revise the redress scheme to include best-practice guidelines regarding neuroscience, childhood trauma and attachment.

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