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A Study of the Infrastructure and Legislation for Adoption in Ireland C.1911-1971

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A Study of the Infrastructure and Legislation for Adoption in Ireland C.1911-1971 A study of the infrastructure and legislation for adoption in Ireland c.1911-1971 By Colleen Mary Stewart Thesis for the degree of PhD Department of History National University of Ireland Maynooth Head of Department: Professor Marian Lyons Supervisors of research Dr. Dympna McLoughlin Professor Jacqueline Hill October 2013 Abstract This thesis explores adoption in Ireland from 1911 through to 1971. Over this sixty year period a number of aspects to adoption in Ireland are examined. Before 1952 there was no formal legislation covering the practice of adoption in Ireland; adoptions were arranged on an informal or de facto basis. In this sense, adoption is charted throughout the thesis starting in 1911 and continuing through its legalisation in 1952 to 1971. The census of 1911 provides detailed information on the numbers of adopted children in Ireland. Up till 1922 adoption in Ireland is explored for the whole island. Before 1952 records and correspondence from organisations that arranged adoptions are used to create an understanding of informal adoption practices. The thesis also explores the demand for adoption legislation and examines in detail the activity of the groups and organisations involved, and their roles experienced in the introduction of an adoption law and their working relationships with the department of justice. The legislative position of adoption in Ireland compared to similar international legislative practice elsewhere is also addressed, as is relevant international legislation; Ireland introduced its first adoption law relatively late in comparison to other European countries. The thesis explores and compares Ireland‟s adoption legislation with international standards. After the introduction of the first adoption act there was government regulation of adoption practices. This regulation provided statistics on adoption and these statistics allow for an analysis of adoption trends after 1952. Throughout the thesis the political dimensions surrounding adoption are important and the relationship between church and lay authorities in the pursuance of adoption practice is explored. Within a few years of the first adoption act there was a demand for further adoption legislation, and queries in the department of justice about possible amendments. Issues associated with adoption continued to be a subject of media attention, and questions continued in Dáil Éireann over adoption procedures. A further adoption act was introduced in 1964, its introduction is also discussed in this thesis. Contents Page Acknowledgements ii List of abbreviations iii List of figures, tables and plates iv Introduction 1 Chapter one: Adoption: the historical background. c.1911 – 1929 19 Chapter two: Adoption in the 1930s and 1940s 60 Chapter three: Origins of the pressure for adoption legislation 1933 to 1950 110 Chapter four: The introduction of an adoption law in 1952 151 Chapter five: The adoption law in operation after 1952 193 Conclusion 235 Appendix 1: Children recorded as ‘adopted’ in the 1911 census of Ireland 242 Bibliography 288 i Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Marian Lyons and Professor Vincent Comerford of the history department at N.U.I Maynooth for their support and encouragement. I am especially grateful to my supervisors Professor Jacqueline Hill and Dr. Dympna McLoughlin. I would like to thank the department administrative staff, Ann and Catherine, for their assistance over the years. I am indebted to the department for the Postgraduate Scholarship I received for the first two years of this research. I would also like to thank the archives and libraries that were consulted for this work. I would like to give a special thank you to Noelle in the Dublin Diocesan Archives who was extremely helpful and also to the Cottage Home for Little Children who allowed me access to their archive. I would like to acknowledge and thank An Foras Feasa for the work space provided in the Iontas postgraduate lab. It was a great help and deeply appreciated and I would also like to thank my fellow postgraduates in the research lab, for their collegiality and support, especially Emma. On a personal note I would like to thank my parents Austin and Jacinta, and my siblings Janet and Joe. Austin and Jacinta I would like to thank for all of their consistent support. I would also like to thank Fionnuala and Shane for their incredible and supportive friendships. ii List of abbreviations A.C.H.L.C. - Archive of the Cottage Home for Little Children B.W.A.C. - Belfast Women‟s Advisory Council C.P.R.S.I. - Catholic Protection and Rescue Society of Ireland N.A.I. - National Archives of Ireland N.L.I.- National Library of Ireland D.D.A. - Dublin Diocesan Archive J.C.W.S.S.W. - Joint Committee of Women‟s Societies and Social Workers S.P.D.C.C. - Society for the Protection of Destitute Catholic Children P.R.O.N.I. - Public Record Office of Northern Ireland B.W.A.C. - Belfast Women‟s Association Committee iii List of figures, tables and plates Figures Page Fig. 1.1 Sample return identifying a child as adopted 33 Fig. 1. 2 Sample form identifying the number of children born into a marriage 35 Fig. 1.3 Map demonstrating the numbers of adopted children by county. 36 Fig. 1.4: Adoptions in Co. Antrim and Co. Dublin by religion, 1911 census 37 Fig. 1.5 Occupational background of heads of households with adopted children, 1911 39 Fig. 2.1 Admissions to the Cottage Home, subsequently recorded as „adopted‟ 74 Fig. 2.2 Admissions to the Cottage Home, destination of children recorded as „adopted‟ 74 Fig. 5.1 Numbers of children adopted 1953-1971 193 Fig 5.2 Occupation of adopters, 1955 197 Fig 5.2 Occupations of adopters, 1956-63 203 Fig 5.3 Occupations of adopters, 1964-71 226 Plates Plate 2.1 Image of children available for adoption 87 Tables Table 2.1: Table showing admission and discharge of children to the Catholic Protection and Rescue Society 1937 – 1950 91 iv Introduction Adoption is a uniquely human story. It has been an important and contested social issue in twentieth century Ireland. Despite this there has been no in-depth study of the history of adoption in Ireland, though there have been some shorter studies and a limited amount of journalistic work produced on the subject. This thesis aims to fill this gap and through this aid our understanding of the societal structures of twentieth century Ireland. This is the first systematic study of adoption and it aims to build a basis on which further analysis can be built. In Ireland, the practice of adoption developed from the „boarding out‟ system used by poor law unions and charity organisations in the nineteenth century.1 Boarding out was similar to fostering. Fostering and „boarding out‟ are practices whereby an individual takes responsibility for a non-biological child. However, these practices were usually for a temporary period of time. „Boarding out‟ became widespread as an extension of the workhouse system in Ireland. The 1862 Poor Law Amendment Act made it possible for boards of guardians to „board out‟ orphan and deserted children under the age of five.2 The „boarding out‟ system in the workhouse was advanced by further legislation in 1869 and 1876.3 Fostering and „boarding out‟ usually involved an exchange of regular amounts of money. There was no regular exchange of money in adoption practices though occasionally lump sum payments were in fact exchanged. Occasionally boarding and fostering arrangements led to a child remaining on in a foster home after regular payment had ceased, owing to 1 These charities included but were not limited to the Protestant Orphan Society and the Cottage Home for Little Children 2 Helen Burke, The people and the poor law in the nineteenth century Ireland, (West Sussex, 1987), p. 230. 3 An act to amend the laws in force for the relief of the destitute poor in Ireland and to continue the powers of the commissioners, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict, c. 83) (7 Aug. 1862); an act to amend the act of the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth years of Victoria, chapter eighty three, section 9, by extending the age at which orphan and deserted children may be kept out at nurse 1869 (32 & 33 Vict. c. 25) (12 Jul. 1869), and an act to extend the limits of age up to which, with the assent of the board of guardians, orphan and deserted pauper children may be supported out of workhouses, 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c.38) (11 Aug. 1876). 1 the emotional bonds that developed between the child and the foster family: this was a mode of informal adoption. Adoption practice developed organically and was so widespread that by 1911 children were entered in census returns as being „adopted‟. The census of 1911 is one of the first examples of the use of the term „adopted‟ to describe a non-biological familial relationship, although at that time the practice was unregulated by law. Using the 1911 census as a starting point, this thesis examines adoption policy and practice till 1971. Two adoption acts were passed in Ireland, one in 1952 and the other in 1964, and so a particular focus of this thesis is an examination of adoption both before and after these acts. The thesis charts the development of adoption practice over a sixty year period. The thesis stops in 1971 for a number of reasons. During the 1960s, according to the Adoption Board reports, the vast majority of illegitimate children were adopted. After 1971 there was a growth in the number of births in Ireland both inside and outside of marriage. However, the number of adoptions as a percentage of unmarried births fell during the 1970s.
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