Banished Babies: The Secret History of Ireland's Baby Export Business (30 page)

Note:
These figures do not include the 170 or so US visas issued between July 1949 and the end of 1950. When these are added the total comes to 2,132. There are some unexplained anomalies with these figures. For example, it is not clear why there should be an entry under ‘Ireland’ unless these were foreign nationals resident here at the time of obtaining a passport for a child they intended adopting in another country. It is also unclear why Great Britain should be included as no passport was necessary to travel there, although it is possible the recipients of the children intended adopting them elsewhere, for example, US military personnel stationed in the UK after World War II who would take children back to America.

Table 3: American Destination by State

Note:
These figures do not include the 170 US visas issued between July 1949 and the end of 1950. Their inclusion brings the total to 2,070.

Table 4: Children’s Origins by Institution

Note:
When the 1949-50 American visas are added, the total comes to 2,088. The extent to which the Department’s figures understate the actual numbers can be seen from the fact that St Patrick’s Guild’s own records show that they sent 572 children to America for adoption, an addition of 11%. The Guild’s records cover the period from 1947 when they sent their first child to the US.

Note on Sources

Documents referred to as the ‘McQuaid Papers’ are in the Dublin Diocesan Archive, Archbishop’s House, Drumcon- dra, Dublin 9. References to archive material from the Department of Foreign Affairs have been abbreviated for convenience. Documents cited are contained in eight large ‘policy files’ located in the National Archive in Dublin. The file titles are as follows:

Note on Monetary Conversions

When converting monetary values from the 1950s and early ’60s to today’s equivalents, I have first converted to Euro where appropriate (conversion rate: €1 = Ir£0.787564) and then multiplied by a factor of 76. This method of calculation is based on official figures for average earnings which have risen from around £7 a week in the early years (€8.90) to €675 a week in mid-2011. The dollar-punt exchange rate was constant at $2.8 to £1 throughout the period in question.

Endnotes

Part 1: Prologue

1.
New York Times,
29 July 1949

2.
San Francisco Call Bulletin,
15 November 1949

3.
San Francisco Chronicle,
15 November 1949

4.
San Francisco Examiner,
15 November 1949

5.
Ibid

1. A Happy Hunting Ground

1.
DoEA 345/96/I, internal memo, Kenny to Commins, 13 October 1952

2.
DoEA 345/96/I, note to Minister, 5 November 1951

3.
DoEA 345/96/I, Horan, internal memo 9 November 1950. Horan reports communication from a Mr. Lefreniere of the US embassy to the effect that 140 US entry visas were issued to Irish babies for adoption between July 1949 and September 1950, an average of 10 per month, giving a total of 170 to the end of 1950.

4.
McQuaid Papers, ‘American Adoptions,’ undated typescript.

5.
The Irish Times,
8 October 1951

6.
DoEA 350/28

7.
DoEA 345/96/I

8.
All figures from the Central Statistics Office.

9.
Barrett, C.,
Adoption: the parents, the child, the home,
Dublin 1952, pp.17-18

10.
lbid,
pp.23-24

11.
Dervan, M.,
The Problem of the Unmarried Mother,
Mercier Press, Cork, 1961, p. 12

12.
While they banned foreign adoptions, however, the British authorities still sanctioned the shipment of thousands of children from orphanages and homes throughout Britain (including Northern Ireland) to Commonwealth countries where they were placed in institutions – many run by Irish Christian Brothers. The aim was to release them into society when they were old enough to marry and reproduce, thereby boosting the Anglo-Saxon presence in these countries. Many of the children were exported against their wishes and without the knowledge of their parents. See Margaret Humphreys,
Empty Cradles,
Corgi, London 1995. For the story of the sexual and physical abuse of many of these children by Christian Brothers, see the documentary,
Betrayal,
by Mike Milotte and Mary Raftery (RTE
Prime Time,
November 2001). See also the 2011 feature film,
Oranges and Sunshine,
directed by Jim Loach.

13.
New York Times,
24 November 1950

2. McQuaid’s Rules, OK?

1.
DoEA 345/96/I, Schafer,
St Louis Globe,
to Passport Office, 9 May 1950

2.
DoEA 345/96/I, Hughes to DoEA, 17 November 1949

3.
DoEA 345/96/1, DoEA to Hughes, 21 November 1949

4.
DoEA 345/96/I, various papers

5.
DoEA 345/96/I, Dept Health to DoEA, 12 December 1949

6.
Schafer,
op. cit.

7.
DoEA, 345/96/I, Dept Health to DoEA, 12 December 1949

8.
McQuaid Papers, copy of Brown’s letter to St V de P, 8 March 1950

9.
McQuaid Papers, handwritten note on Barrett’s letter to Mangan, 22 March 1950

10.
DoEA 345/96/I, WJ. Gilligan, Hon Sec St v de P to Rev Brown, 24 March 1950

11.
DoEA 345/96/I Assistant Secretary to Secretary, 5 September 1950

12.
Barrett,
Adoption,
1952, pp. 42-43

13.
McQuaid Papers, Sr Elizabeth to Fr Mangan, 4 June 1951

14.
Statement to the author from Sr Gabriel Murphy, Senior Professional Social Worker, St Patrick’s Guild, June 1996

15.
Sr Frances Elizabeth to Mr & Mrs M.J., correspondence in the author’s possession.

16.
McQuaid Papers, Sr Frances Elizabeth to Fr Mangan, 25 March 1950

17.
McQuaid Papers, Fr Mangan to Sr Frances Elizabeth, 25 March 1950

18.
McQuaid Papers, Sr Monica to Fr Mangan, 23 & 24 March 1950, Mangan to Monica, 25 March 1950

19.
New York Times,
18 March 1950

20.
McQuaid Papers, handwritten memo, undated

21.
DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Garda Superintendent, 27 February 1952

22.
McQuaid Papers, Barrett to Mangan, 30 March 1950

23.
Minutes of the Meeting of Standing Committee of Directors of Catholic Charities, Washington, 19 May 1950, Catholic University, Washington

24.
DoEA 345/96/I, Hugh McCann, Irish embassy in Washington to DoEA, 23 May 1950

25.
Ibid

26.
DoEA 345/96/I, McCann to DoEA, 23 June 1950

27.
DoEA 345/96/I, Lennon to Gallagher, 4 September 1950

28.
Gallagher to Secretary, 12 July 1950

29.
DoEA 345/96/I, Horan to Gallagher, internal memo, June 1950

30.
DoEA 345/96/I, Gallagher to Secretary, internal memo, 12 July 1950

31.
Ibid

32.
Ibid

33.
McQuaid Papers, Barrett to Mangan, 29 May 1951

34.
McQuaid Papers, Sr Frances Elizabeth to Fr Mangan

35.
J.H. Whyte,
Church and State in Modern Ireland 1923-1979,
Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1980 pp. 192-3

36.
McQuaid Papers, ‘American Adoption of Irish Children’, undated.

37.
McQuaid Papers. This is the earliest version of this document. Later versions appear in various files, but the amendments are slight.

38.
‘American Adoptions of Irish Children’
op. cit.

39.
DoEA 345/96/I, Berry, Justice, to MacDonald, DoEA, 2 November 1950

40.
DoEA 345/96/I, Horan memo, 29 December 1950

41.
DoEA 345/96/I, Sean Ronan, DoEA, to Donal Scully, Irish Consulate, New York, 5 June 1951

42.
DoEA 345/96/II, ‘Documentation to be submitted with Passport Application for Catholic Illegitimate Child’, undated. The ‘not shirking natural parentage’ condition was added to the Department’s regulations at an unknown date, some time after the initial rules were set down.

43.
DoEA 345/96/I, Horan memo, 29 December 1950

44.
Dáil Debates, Vol. 125, Col 781

45.
The Irish Times,
12 April 1951

3. Me Tommy, You Jane

1.
.Saturday Chronicle,
11 November 1951

2.
The Irish Times,
30 October 1951

3.
Florrie Kavanagh gave this account of the entire episode to the
Sunday Express,
11 November 1951

4.
Daily Mail Weekend,
10 October 1998

5.
Sunday Chronicle,
11 November 1951

6.
Dáil Debates, 21 November 1951, Vol 127, Col 6

7.
DoEA 345/96/I (340/12/114) ‘Deputy Kyne’s Question re Thomas Kavanagh/ Jane Russell’ addressed to the Minister.

8.
DoEA 345/96/I, Memo to Secretary of Department from MR, 12 November 1951

9.
Manchester Guardian
, 16 November 1951

10.
Sunday News,
20 April 1952

11.
Manchester Guardian,
1 January 1952

12.
Sunday News,
20 April 1952

13.
Interview with John Peoples, Jane Russell’s agent, June 1996

14.
Letter from Bruce Mohler, National Catholic Welfare Conference, to Msgr Cecil Barrett, Catholic Social Welfare Bureau, 31 March 1958, archives of the Migration and Refugee Services, US Catholic Conference.

15.
DoEA 345/96/I, O’Beirne to Dept Secretary, 19 December 1951

16.
Handwritten and initialled note on O’Beirne’s memo, dated 29 December 1951