St Joseph's home for babies.

finbar markey wrote: »

I was in St Clare's from 1975-79, so in a way I probably met some of you guys. It took 18 months after requesting a very specific array of documents from Drogheda to receive a letter that gave a brief overview, a rosy, flattering picture of me and yet I know at nearly four I wasn't eating solids yet, had a diet of mashed bannana and SMA, I had no language, was never outside, never saw a car and refused to get into it in fear. I received nothing that I asked for, i wanted copies of documents after viewing originals not a fairy-tale. I'm in the process of writing my response. The social worker soundled lovely on the phone but i'd prefer a grumpy person that gave me what i want.

Maybe we were crib mates Finbar as I was there from 79 to 80 after been moved from St pats on the navan road for adoption

I've an ok social worker in drogheda she met my siblings the other day and will put is togehter now very soon as for my mother she hasn't responded to say letters so unfortunately that's been closed off as I have 2 more siblings to make contact with x

I worked as a trainee nursery nurse in Stamullen in the early 1980s. We girls used to buy sunday clothes for the babies and there was a nun who took the toddlers to the library every week for storytelling. We used to take the babies out for walks when the weather was good and there were two swings at the back for the toddlers.
The children were very well treated. The babies were fed round the clock every 4 hours and the doctor would come in and examine them if they had colds or anything. The nuns were very particular about how the babies were looked after and we had to adhere to a lot of rules about hygiene etc. We teenage girls looked after the babies and there was a nun who was matron she was an SRN and there was also a lay woman who was an SRN who supervised us from 9am to 3pm every day during the week. I enjoyed working there. We girls lived in a nurses home attached to the babies home and we sometimes had good fun together. We got certificates when we finished the two year course but it wasn't officially recognised as a qualification, so I discovered afterwards. I trained as a secretary after that. I found the sad cases of neglect, by parents, hard to bear as I am empathic. These were children who were put in St Josephs because their parents neglected them. They were wards of court and St Josephs was a place of safety. We once asked a couple of toddlers who were able to talk did they prefer the babies home or being with their parents and they said the babies home. Very sad. A lot of the babies for adoption were adopted after a comparatively short time being in there. There were about 30 babies in there when I was there. My mother trained there in the 1950s and there used to be 300 babies in there then. She said there were no deaths there when she was there and there were no deaths there when I was there either. Can't understand the media saying there were deaths there. Everything was done meticulously as far as I can remember.