Fears baby home probe will exclude illegal adoptions

Adoption campaigners are concerned that tens of thousands of unmarried women and girls whose children were forcibly or illegally adopted will be excluded from the upcoming mother and baby homes inquiry.

In a briefing note prepared for all TDs and senators in advance of last week’s second Dáil debate on the terms of reference for the inquiry, Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA) expressed concern that the Government was determined to avoid fully examining the scale of forced and illegal adoptions.

The group argued that most illegal adoptions were undocumented and were carried out by individuals and institutions with no connection to mother and baby homes.