St Joseph's home for babies.

kitty171184

Hi,

I'm writing this on behalf of my partner. He was placed for adoption in St Joseph's home for babies, in Stamullen, Co Meath.
This is about as much info as we've got yet as he has just decided to do a trace. He was born there in October of 1974.
However, i can find very little about this home on the internet.
Anybody have any experiences there?

tldireland

Hi. My partner was also placed with St Joseph's babies home. The adoption was managed by St. Clare's Adoption Society, Stamullen, Co. Meath. The agency is no longer in existence so I am assuming the same for the babies home. The Adoption Board made note of our request and advised us to contact HSE North East, Regional Adoption Service in Drogheda. Co Louth. We are following guidelines in tracing handbooks but it's a really slow process for us anyway with the HSE..... Best of luck with it all.

jovigirl78

hi was adopted from st clares in stamullen and i tried to conact them about information i was referred to hse in drogheda as the agency is now closed i was looking for my long birth cert and was told to contact the adoption authority of ireland and put my name on the contact prefernce list as they cant give me my birth cert or any information
i found this website www.adoptionrightsalliance.com helpful about how to obtain a copy of my long birth cert i havent tried to get it yet
has anyone got a copy of their long birth cert?
or has anyone been adopted from st clares in stamullen?

CathyMoran

There are also trace guides here that may be of use: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055543715

Ter1976

Hi Just seen some posts on this, if you want to trace, you need to contact the principal social worker, Louth local health office Regional adoption services, st. marys hospital, dublin road, Drogheda. (Theres a massive waiting list)

Cheers - T

KarlBr

I too was adopted from St. Clare's Stamullen 1980.

edelmccabe

hi my name is edel adopted from stamullen too. i am currently waiting on hse to get my adoption file but have got no news yet.... i also went to see the home this weekend its a nursing home now but great to see a place and is another bit of the jigsaw...pls feel free to chat to me as were in the same boat.
does any know how long it takes to receive any info from sw or hse???

diabeticmum

Hi, my husband was also adopted through St clares adoption society, in 1971. He is at early stage where he just wanted some medical info and pass on info about himself to birth mother. We wrote a letter to HSE drogheda and altho it was registered post and came up as received hse in drogheda told us they never received it. We sent a second copy which they did receive afair the reply was about 6 weeks coming and very little info in it, even non identifiying info.
Hi Edel, can I ask, can you just drive up to where it used to be?

edelmccabe

Hi Thanks for getting back to me im still waiting on info and getting fed up watching the postman for it....especially knowing that the info will be very undetailed, also yes my husband drove me over to stamullen and we drove right up to the home and i stood inthe main hall way and had a look around the grounds advise you to go with ur partner as its the only place that he would have being with his mother...best of luck and let me knoww how things go edelx

dantommum

Hi I dont know if I can help any one I was a nursery nurse at St Josephs baby home from 1981 to 1984. And went back in 1985 for 6 months to help train others to look after the little babies. I was a lot of children and babies come and go. The home closed in 1996 as far as I know and now it is a home for the aged.

diabeticmum

Dantommum, thats very good of you offering to help. My husband was there before your time

The_Conductor

I am only too well aware of how low priority we appear to be with the HSE and the Adoption Authority- and would like to point people to the Traceguides which detail step by step, how you might do a trace, with minimal assistance from the HSE/Adoption Authority.

Note- the very first step that anyone should do is request 'Non-identifying Information' from the Adoption Authority (who have copies of all the adoption files in their possession.

There-after download the appropriate guide and follow the steps

Link to the traceguides here

Kind regards,

Shane

Mfarr3ll

Hey guys,

I came from St Clares in Stamullen also in 1978. I have been in contact a few years back with the adoption agencies and the Principal Social Worker in St Mary's Hospital in Drogheda as i was sick and was advised by my doctor to try get some medical history, what i got was two pages of blacked out writting along with a few scribbles that i had a sore eye when i was born, i was devastated and it ended up in the fire.

Ive been on http://www.adoptionrightsalliance.com/ and its fantastic and full of everything you need to trace yourself which is far better as your letters to drogheda will just be put in a corner or you will be told you have no birth cert. I have once again today requested my non identifying information and i am then going to the Irish Life Mall in dublin to find my birth certificate. I am hoping i will at least get my mothers name and possibly her address and then i will start my search.

Hope this helps

M xx

kdroogan

hi i was born 1st october 1974.was at st josephs. did try and get some info back in 96 and 98 but got very little back. i am going to try again in the new year. hope things might be a bit better now

Sherrybell

Hi Dantommum,

I was in St Clares as a newborn in 1983. What was it like there?

lucia05

Hi,
Myself and my 2 brothers were also adopted from Stamullen, we would visit with my parents for all of our communions and confirmations, the nun was Sr. Marie Louise. She had dealt with all of our adoptions and my mother had many letters from her. The last time I was there was in approx. mid 90's. Sadly there were only children with special needs there who had not been adopted. As far as I know it closed down shortly after that visit.
I have received my NII from the HSE and managed to locate my original birth cert in the Irish Life Mall. It was alot easier that you would think, unfortunately my story does not have a happy ending as my BM refuses to have any contact with me, but only yesterday I met with my biological aunt who told me who my birth father is. He only lives 15 mins from my house as did my BM. It is unbelievable at the amount of secrecy surrounding adoption. A number of people from the town my BM comes from refused to speak with me.
Both my brothers have met with their BM's and they are lovely people.
Good luck to anyone out there searching.

Fee

kitty171184

It's nice to hear from other people who have been here. We yet again have sent a letter to Co Louth to request some information. I wish some mothers who gave up their babies would post about an experience from there. Just to see was it bad/awful/ some sort of an insight.

kitty171184

Also, is there any place that you can go to put in your date of birth and if your mother was looking for you she could find you that way.

kitty171184

kdroogan,
did you ever get anywhere with finding more info. We didn't.

mamafi

Hi guys.I lived near village where st. Clares was and I had trips up to the babies home regularly. The nuns where lovely who ran the home and as a teenager I done some work during the summer there in the 80's. The nurses who looked after the children went above and beyond with the children and I even remember some of them comming back after their summer hols with new clothes and toys for the children. Children were taken out at weekends or for days by people who lived in the area too and I remember my Aunt even took out a little boy on a regular bases and when he was adopted his new family called him after my uncle.The children there had nuns and nurses who really cared for them.

kitty171184

That is nice to know. It's a pity it's so hard now to get info on it.

kdroogan

Was born 1st oct 1974 believe my birth mum named me catherine. have been on to Hse several times keep getting told i am on waiting list. feel so fed up with the whole prosess

una maguire

Hi does anyone remember a baby called David with black hair .He was in the home around 1976,would be grateful for info please.Una

TheBuggerMom

was anyone here adopted through Fr Regan in the mid eighties from St Claires in Stamullen? I have heard that there were some dealings that he did that were not completely by the book but most of the records that I request for are "gone" or apparently dont exist. However there are some huge discrepancies with my adoption and that of my brother and sister and I was wondering if anyone else had these problems too? Genuine enquiry as it has haunted me for the last couple of years. Some including my parents were given us while they were over the legal age requirements for adopting children, I was not adopted until I was supposedly three months old but my adoption cert says otherwise, my brother's birth mother supposedly had a teenage pregnancy where the father was not in the picture but we found out when he was sixteen that she married his birth father and also had eight other kids with him one a year after she gave up my brother, and my sister cannot get her medical records because apparently her mother was so sick that if she got that she would be able to trace her through that alone. It all sounds very suss to me. I have started my search with the HSE in Drogheda two years ago and I am still waiting to hear anything from them despite being told constantly that I am next on the list. It seems like they are trying to avoid the situation completely!

Something else that I thought was quite unusual was that he made regular visits to my adoptive parents for years after we were adopted. I understood that the usual procedure was that the investigations were done prior to the children being handed over and that all ties thereafter are usually cut in order to make the parenting more natural for the adoptive parents? Why would he come to visit so much with excuses of "he was just in the area" or he happened to be passing and thought he would drop by?

kitty171184

We are still waiting to hear too. They said the waiting list can be over two years,,

kitty171184

It's so hard to get any type of info. Are there any other sites that ye know off where people are looking?

mamafi

Have you joined the adoption rights allience group on facebook kitty....it is a closed group that only members can see your posts...they are a really helpful group of people

ritakelty

Hi i was adopted. i contacted the adoption service Child and Family Centre
ST.Marys Hospital ,Dublin Road Drogheda, Co.LOUTH.Phone 0419832963 or 0419833o67.They gave me non-identifting information.Iwas transferred from ST.Peters Castlepollard to ST.Josephs Stamullen on the 4th october 1967.Was any one else transferred as well.I dont know why that happened.I was a month old when transfeerred.would love to hear from any one that has any information about both places.Thanks Rita.

kitty171184

What's everyones update that posted on this? x

kdroogan

I have since found out I was born in Drogheda hospital before I was sent to st josephs. My birth mum gave her name as dympna Harris. She gave her address as the butlins camp in mosney. I was named Jennifer. None of this info came from social worker in Drogheda she was useless. I got help from people involved with adoption rights alliance. Without them I would of got nothing. I have yet to find bm as she is married now. Social worker has her contact details but said she doesn't want contact.

finbar markey

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.

The_Conductor

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.

Finbar- I really like people like you.

Stick to your guns- be firm but polite- and don't let any mushy fairy stories stop you. I honestly wish there were more people like you- it would make life a hell of a lot easier for those who don't have the same resolve as you have- but it would also make the agencies and the HSE think twice about telling adopted people the load of porkies they love to lather on us.

Give them hell- I sincerely hope you get everything you're looking for.

Mzo1978

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

fififairy

I was born in Portlaoise in Feb 1984 and brought to the home straight after for adoption. I understand I was there for 13 weeks before joining my wonderful adoptive family.
When I was turning 21 I wrote to the Dept. in Drogheda just asking them what I would need to do to find my BM. My BM had also sent a letter to the same Dept. as she was turning 40, to let them know if I contacted them for info, she gave permission for her details to be given.....the 2 letters arrived within days of each other!!
Very quickly we were put in contact with each other by exchanging letters through the Social Worker, who was named Jean?...we then met in the centre in Drogheda for the first time under the supervision of the Dept. It all happened within a few weeks.
What I would love to know is who would have looked after me in Stamullen and who would have brought me from the hospital in Portlaoise to Stamullen?:)

Jessie1965

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.

Haithabu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/73405234#Comment_73405234

Could you or anyone point out the location of St. Joseph's ? Like others we find it very difficult to find anything about the place.

We are in touch with the HSE and hopefully that brings some information at some stage. Separately from that, just seeing the place - even from a distance if it is closed to the public - would put our minds at ease.

Surprised to see how many here were born there, glad to hear that it seems the babies were treated nicely there.