Bessborough Mother and Baby home

[Persifleur]

This.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-sh/the_girls_of_bessborough
Long, heartbreaking article.
Irish women and girls confined to places like this for the 'sin' of being pregnant, and forced to give up their babies for adoption. Didn't stop till the late 90s: within not just living but adult memory of many on this board, not just these homes but the shaming attitudes that went with it. The denials and coverups continue.

I read that the other day, heartbreaking, especially that it was so recently that it was still happening.

Well that was an incredibly depressing read

My mother was progressive for those days. She assured me early on that if ever I became pregnant unmarried she'd never kick me out, when 'never darken my doors again' was a common attitude in the 60s. As a child socialised by school I was scandalised at the thought I might have sex outside marriage (or at all, TBH!) but she provided tea and sympathy for several girls in our small town who had no one else except anxious parents who hadn't actually chucked them out but wanted to be rid of the 'problem' as soon as possible.

I am shocked when I look back on it all, how even then the Irish Homes were regarded as brutal but attitudes in England weren't much better.

It's heartening to think how far we've come as society in general since then, but there remain pockets of repression. The women who were forced to give up their children never get over it, do they?

I wonder what TBTB were thinking: did they imagine women could pretend to be starting afresh with a clean slate? Did they realise that forcing women to give up their children was a truly hellish 'punishment'? Were they just being mercenary, thinking of the income in adoption fees?
It beggars belief.