Organised "Sit-In" at Bessboro (or Office of the Minister for Children)

ajbarrington

Ok drastic times call for desperate measures.

I 32 years of age later this month and it is now 12 months since I decided to try and trace my birth mother and contacted the Bessboro centre.

In 12 whole months I have got nowhere with the Bessboro centre. Absolutely nowhere. Rhona Goulding still only works on a Monday to "take notes and messages". There has been no help whatsoever from the Bessboro centre.

People don't live forever and quite frankly, I am sick of it. What right does anybody have to deny me the hope of sharing 12 months of my short life with my birth mother.

There are too many people like me, who are in this situation. This needs to be brought to the attention of the media and the relevant authorities.

So I am proposing a sit in some Monday at the Bessboro Centre. Handcuffs, etc. I will not leave there until I am shown my file.

Arrest me, I dont care. We might get some attention that is badly needed.

This is going nowhere fast.

Alternatively we could "sit-in" at the Office of the Minister for Children

Would anyone be interested in joining me?

The_Conductor

First off- the files from Bessboro are in Roscea, to the best of my knowledge, when Sarto retired they were moved there.
All thats at Bessboro is the community centre- you can hold a sit-in there by all means, but I don't think you'll achieve a lot.
You will be noticed, very visible, and most likely to actually achieve results with your other proposed course of action.

As an aside- what avenues other than Bessboro have you explored thus far? It could very well be that there are options open to you that you may not have considered.

Kind regards,

Shane

ajbarrington

Hi Shane,

You may well be right - but I am not convinced.

When I spoke to Rhona Goulding last July, she was able to pull out some information that told her the following;

(1) My birth mother made an enquiry in 1996 (that I was never told about)
(2) She advised that when I went to Joyce house that I started with the second half of the alphabet in the search for my original birth cert

So she was clearly looking at something, right???

I have been up to Joyce House and got my original birth cert and what I believe to be my birth mothers birth cert - although Im not entirely sure about the latter, as there is no information to absolutely tie the two together as the addresses are different 9although both Waterford)

Not sure what else I can do??

Regards
AJ

The_Conductor

Perhaps- its difficult to tell.
If she was trying to unofficially help you- I'd be more inclined to take a softly softly approach, perhaps approach her and see what you can get from her, without going all guns blazing (and I certainly wouldn't be advertising the help that she did give you- it would burn any chance that she might offer similar assistance to others).

Officially the HSE are now in charge of the Bessboro files- however they haven't the funds to either accept the files, or offer assistance to you, me or any other former Bessboro babes....... I wasn't even able to get Sarto to tell me what time of the day I was born at.........

We did get all sorts of promises from the late Brian Lenihan when he was Minister for Children, that weren't followed through on. Personally I'd suggest that perhaps approaching Joan Burton instead of Frances Fitzgerald, and asking her to make a representation to the Minister on your behalf, might be a possible course of action, short of outright picketting of Frances' Fitzgerald's office.

Unfortunately however the platitudes were flowing during the good times- we really are considered to be at the back of the queue now :mad::mad::(

tyview

I would love for the law to be changed so that we can just be handed our files on request. The hse and whoever else wouldn't have to spend a god damn penny then :rolleyes: Unfortunately that will never happen in this country! Its an absolute joke not to mention an insult

kathy finn

hi tyveiw, all files as of this week have been moved to the sacred hearts convent in england, here is the address u need to write to now.
sr julie rose, chigwell convent, 803 chigwell rd, woodford bridge, essex IG88 AU, united kingdom.i believe sr julie will be dealing with all enquires now....kathy

The_Conductor

Thanks for the update Kathy.
I wonder on what basis they plan to administer them from the UK.......
Might do a little fishing expedition- I still haven't gotten my own information from them......

Shane

kathy finn

hi shane, as far as i know sr mary has now retired and the hse ar still refusing to take over the files, all inquiries ar now to go to their convent in essex. don,t know how it,s going to work.

The_Conductor

I've sent her a letter in this morning's post.

ajbarrington

kathy finn wrote: »

hi tyveiw, all files as of this week have been moved to the sacred hearts convent in england, here is the address u need to write to now.
sr julie rose, chigwell convent, 803 chigwell rd, woodford bridge, essex IG88 AU, united kingdom.i believe sr julie will be dealing with all enquires now....kathy

Hi Kathy,
Could you please let us know where you got this information, as I believe it to be incorrect.
I spoke to Tom Joyce this afternoon and he was able to email me the following information;


I have just been on the phone to Sr Julie and I can confirm that the Sacred Heart adoption records are still in Bessboro.

She also told me that there has been a bit of movement regarding the transfer of the files to the HSE. A draft indemnity agreement is currently with the Sacred Heart legal advisors and I understand that there has also been some progress regarding the identification of staff that might be redeployed to the HSE Adoption Service in Cork to provide an information and tracing service.

As we discussed on the phone, this process is complex and time consuming at the best of times but in the current economic climate it is very difficult indeed.

Sorry not to have more positive news for you.

So as you can see there is a bit of a concerning conflict of information here.
Who told you they had gone to the UK?

Regards
A.

kathy finn

hi a, a member of the adoption rights alliance was told to make all enquires to sr julie in essex for non id info etc. they where also told that the hse in cork have aggreed to take the files in principle but their is no time frame for that. adoption rights have a page on facebook...kathy

The_Conductor

Ok-

All records are still in Bessboro.
No information or tracing services are in place.
Sr. Julie hopes that the HSE will provide an information and tracing service in the near future (fat chance given staff and funding cuts).
The HSE have concluded negotiations with Bessboro and agreed to take over all documents (no timeframe indicated on this).
There is to be no voluntary disclosure of records to third parties (Sr. Julie considers us adopted people to be third parties).
Any court orders will be complied with (I'm not sure what this means- I'm not aware of anyone taking court orders to have information disclosed- if anyone has any information on this- I'd love to know).

So- in short. Complete shutdown of all information and tracing services. The HSE have agreed to take over- however this will be at some unspecified time in the future. In the interim- contact the Adoption Authority- who may or may not be of assistance.........

Totally unsatisfactory.

amkeane

ajbarrington wrote: »

Hi Shane,

You may well be right - but I am not convinced.

When I spoke to Rhona Goulding last July, she was able to pull out some information that told her the following;

(1) My birth mother made an enquiry in 1996 (that I was never told about)
(2) She advised that when I went to Joyce house that I started with the second half of the alphabet in the search for my original birth cert

So she was clearly looking at something, right???

I have been up to Joyce House and got my original birth cert and what I believe to be my birth mothers birth cert - although Im not entirely sure about the latter, as there is no information to absolutely tie the two together as the addresses are different 9although both Waterford)

Not sure what else I can do??

Regards
AJ

Hi AJ,
I'm working with a friend, Maura, who was born in 1935 at Sacred Heart and we were able to get some information from Sr. McManus before she retired.

I see you have had contact with a Rhona Goulding. There is a memoir out there published by June Goulding, who was a midwife at the convent in 1951 called The Light In the Window. It doesn't paint a very pretty picture of the lives of the women who gave birth in that convent. Seeing the name Goulding made me wonder if Rhona Goulding is related to June. Maybe it's just a coincidence.

I saw the memo regarding records now in the hands of HSE. Do you know what you have to do to apply for the records? We are still trying to track down Maura's mother. We think we found her tombstone (while Maura was on a visit to Ireland in June of this year) but we are not certain.

Any help you can give us on working our way through the paperwork to apply for the records would be appreciated. I am writing from Denver, Colorado.
Thanks!
Angie Keane
P.S. I wish you the best on your search.