Concerns raised about Dublin adoption society sending children abroad in the 1970s and '80s

The Adoption Authority of Ireland raised concerns about St Therese Adoption Society potentially sending children to the USA and three other countries for adoption.

Concerns about the practices employed by a Dublin adoption society which sent children to four countries in the 1970s and 1980s were notified to the Department of Children in 2017.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) wrote to the department in April 2017 to notify it of concerns that had emerged following a review of the files of the former St Therese Adoption Society, which was registered as an adoption society between 1975 and 1988.

Chief executive of the AAI Patricia Carey informed principal officer at the Adoption Policy Unit in the department Noreen Leahy that, following a discussion at a meeting with the unit in March of that year, a review of St Therese's files was undertaken.

'Matters of concern'

Ms Carey said the review had revealed “a number of matters of concern”, including adoption orders for children born in Ireland and adopted in the USA, as well as correspondence raising concerns about the “age of adopters", "eligibility of adopters" and "placement issues".

No further action was taken to investigate the action of the agency.

St Therese Adoption Agency is not named as an agency that was involved in placing any children outside the State in Department of Foreign Affairs material uncovered in 1996.

However, the AAI confirmed to the Irish Examiner that files it holds "contain evidence of correspondence between members of St Therese’s and persons in countries other than the USA". It said "three other countries other than the USA are mentioned, to include Belgium".

"Again, it must be emphasised that due to the incomplete nature of the files, it is not possible to definitively state that children were placed in these countries," said a statement.

The AAI said it notified the Department of Children of these concerns "in a report provided to the department in July 2017".

In response, the department said the issues  the AAI highlighted "are well documented and in the public domain for a number of years" and that the Mother and Baby Homes Commission powers extended to all records relevant to its investigation, including those held by the AAI.

The final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission does not specifically address the concerns raised by the AAI in 2017.

Newspaper exposé

However, it does make specific reference to St Therese Adoption Society – summarising a 1986 newspaper exposé on the society. The report claimed the agency was arranging for pregnant Irish women and girls to go to the USA to give birth and subsequently have their children adopted there.

The commission concluded that "it was open to any pregnant woman to make arrangements to go to the USA, give birth there and have the baby adopted under American law" and that it was "not clear that there was any illegality involved in helping women to go to the USA" to do this.