14/01/2021
Excruciating reading the news this week, to read of the deep shame & abuse suffered by Irish women and children in mother and baby homes throughout Ireland over the past century. Hearing of inaccuracies in the report published and of botched recording of testimonies is another heartbreaking blow for some of these precious souls. Haven’t they been through enough? When someone is being abused, they often don’t know they are, being abused. They believe the abuser that they are worthless/useless etc, whatever they are being told, that’s how abuse works! When they do eventually understand that what has been done to them is wrong (it can take a long, long time to realise this alone), many hold hope that someday, somehow, somewhere, someone will help them find justice, find peace from the torment within. Remember, they have been PROGRAMMED by the homes/society to believe that they are unworthy (and babies up to the age of 19 months believe they are their mother, completely tuned into their mothers emotional world) - so stepping forward is huge. When they do step forward to bravely share their story with family/friends/authorities or “professionals”, if these very people do not listen or accurately HEAR, or worse still, downplay, minimise or twist it, this, for the victim is a whole new world of betrayal, abandonment and despair. Understanding and investigation is needed. WHY did this happen? What deviant personality traits did the people who ran these homes possess to instruct such regimes? What beliefs drove them to subject these women and children to such a tortured existence. Who profited from the adoptions? So many questions. Each of us in Irish society needs to examine our own prejudices. Society colluded with these homes and we have a dept to pay.
