We can offer a better class of baby with a good background
ONE woman who knows the truth of how nuns in Ireland of the late 1950s handled the children entrusted to their care is Mary Lawlor, who was adopted out by the nuns at Sean Ross Abbey, Co. Tipperary.
Letters she obtained from her adoptive parents detailing how she was given to them also sheds light on the nuns’ attitudes towards children of poorer single mothers.
The nuns cautioned the prospective parents not to pick a child of the ‘wrong class’, and to take a young child as ‘the better class girl has to leave here quickly so as not to be detected in her sorrow’.
In a letter dated July 26, 1961, sent to the adoptive parents of Mary Lawlor, the sister in charge of the Roscrea institution reads: ‘We had a wonderful reference from your priest and we think you should take a baby over six months… the baby will be brought up just as you would bring your own child up and a child of two years has been too long in an institution to fall easy into your ways We have a very nice little girl Mary Margaret who is of good background and very intelligent,’ the nun wrote.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mary Lawlor said the nuns also gave her adoptive parents a book detailing how to look after a baby.
‘They were picking and choosing babies, so the older ones – who would have needed a bit more support – ended up being left there because the nuns were putting people off them.
‘They adopted me out with an instruction book. It’s a pity the nuns did not read it beforehand.’
In a follow-up letter on August 12, 1961, the nuns wrote again to Mary’s family to organise her
adoption. It reads: ‘It’s much better for you not to come here as you could be known and in order to save any unpleasant contact later on for the child.’ Mary Lawlor was instrumental in organising the first annual memorial at Sean Ross Abbey last weekend with fellow adoptee Edel Byrne. The ceremony included readings from those affected by forced adoptions.
‘We believe there are 700 or more babies also buried on the grounds of Sean Ross Abbey. We want all of the children and their families who were all affected by this terrible period in time to be remembered. We also want a full inquiry, a criminal investigation and compensation for victims.’
Another adoptee Mari Steed, one of Ireland’s so-called ‘banished babies’, has also provided the MoS with adoption letters from Rev. Mother Barbara of the Sacred Heart Convent in Bessboro, Co. Cork. On May 8, 1962, the nun wrote: ‘Our expense for this adoption amounted to 160 dollars so we would appreciate a check (sic) as soon as you can after getting Mary Teresa…’