“ … There existed in Northern Ireland a culture of stigma, shame and secrecy attached to unmarried mothers. This was particularly true during the early and middle decades of the twentieth century, but such sentiment was still significant in the 1970s and 1980s. However, those two decades did see some liberalisation of public opinion. For example, the Belfast Telegraph published a series of articles that was sympathetic to unmarried mothers in August 1971. These articles explained the difficult realities that had been faced by women in these circumstances, who had no support networks and were unable to provide for themselves during and following a pregnancy.
While women were referred to mother and baby homes from a variety of sources, the overwhelming factor in admissions to them, evident across all the homes, was familial pressure. The case histories discovered in the various institutional archives and the oral testimony collected by the researchers reveal countless stories of familial anger, upset and disappointment at the discovery or revelation of a pregnancy. To avoid what was believed to be the shame and a loss of respectability brought upon a family by an ‘illegitimate’ pregnancy, women and girls were placed in mother and baby homes before their pregnancy became obvious. In other situations, the fear of family anger or rejection led women to enter mother and baby homes without telling their families, or, sometimes, after sharing their secret with only one parent or a sibling.
Women often entered a mother and baby home when they were not in a position to marry, or continue a relationship with, the father of their child. Marriage was often regarded as a way of resolving the issue of a premarital pregnancy and legitimising a birth. Case records reveal situations where marriage was not a possibility. Sometimes the father was already married; in other cases his identity was not known (or the birth mother did not want to reveal it); in religiously segregated Northern Ireland, religious differences were a common cause of opposition to a marriage. In other cases, the young age of a pregnant girl meant that marriage was not an option.
This last point indicates that a number of females entered mother and baby homes as the result of a sexual crime, including: incest, rape or unlawful carnal knowledge. The available records do not indicate whether the appropriate authorities were always informed about the criminal circumstances of these pregnancies. In at least one case, it appears that the authorities were not informed about a case of incest. In other instances it is clear that victims of sexual abuse were moved on to a Good Shepherd St Mary’s home, to work in its laundry, after they gave birth in a mother and baby home. More generally, the oral testimonies indicate that staff in all the mother and baby homes were not trained to attend to the psychological trauma arising from sexual abuse and incest. … “
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- Each chapter of the Report or the Report in full can be downloaded from https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/research-report-mother-and-baby-homes-and-magdalene-laundries-northern-ireland
- Counselling / Mental Health Support Services Mental health and counselling support services are available to anyone affected by historical practice in this area. Access to help and support in your locality, including through your GP and specialised healthcare professionals, can be accessed on the Minding Your Head website: https://www.mindingyourhead.info/services(external link opens in a new window / tab).
HERitage stall this Saturday 29th January at St Cuthbert's hall, Amble. Come along, see you there