Some of the 126 may have died not knowing they were adopted

IT’S unknown whether a number of the 126 who have been found to have falsified birth certs have already died not knowing they were adopted, according to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

A department official confirmed that they do not yet know who has died out of those whose birth certificates were incorrectly registered by St Patrick’s Guild from 1949 to 1969.

A spokeswoman for Tusla declined to comment on whether the next of kin or the children of any adoptees who have died will be notified that their family member was adopted.

Mike Milotte, the author of Banished Babies said it will be very difficult to assess the true extent of this scandal. ‘None of this comes as a surprise to those in authority. They have known about these practices for, literally, six-and-a-half decades and have, for the most part, turned a blind eye.’

Moire Maguire, who has carried out significant research on Ireland’s foreign adoption history in Maynooth University, said: ‘The adoptive parents knew what they were doing when they signed those fraudulent birth certificates, and one assumes that they did it with the intention of keeping the adoptions secret. It seems highly unlikely to me that many of those involved in this clandestine business will have left as clear a paper trail as was found in the records of St Patrick’s Guild.

‘And we don’t know that the Guild faithfully recorded every incident where the official birth register was falsified.

‘So even their figure of 126 could be an understatement.’

She said there were around 40 private maternity homes and many were involved in providing babies for adoption too. ‘There is evidence that some were involved in falsifying birth records to allow people who weren’t a child’s biological parents to be registered as if they were,’ said Ms Maguire.