Identical twins St. Ritas nursing home Dublin 1961

sal61

Myself and my identical twin were born in St. Ritas nursing home Ranlagh Dublin in 1961. After numerous attempts for information we have drawn a blank. I was wondering if anyone has information that could help us in our search, ie. Perhaps anyone who worked in St. Ritas at this time or indeed anything else.
Thank you

MartinJohn

Hi Sal 61

I started my own search this year and have located my birth parents. I used the information from the Adoption Rights Alliance website to start my search and found it very helpful. It will take time to locate birth certs etc, but start with th following link

http://www.adoptionrightsalliance.com/searchandreunion.htm

Wish ye all the best with the search.

Martin John

sal61

Hi Martin John,

Thanks very much for replying to my post. We actually found out birth registered in Joyce house but we're informed that a false name was used for our Birth Mother so we are kind of back at square one. We were adopted through St Patrick's guild in Dublin and when we went back with our birth certs the nun there told us it was a false name used to protect our BM. We know we were baptised in Donnybrook church apart from that we have no useful information .

Sal 61

Claire9592

Hi,

Did you ever find out?? I'm trying to help my father find his BM. He was born June 1961. I think that if you can find one person who was there, they could help us by giving names.. One door opens another.
Am thinking of hiring a private investigator.

Best,
Claire

sal61

Claire9592 wrote: »

Hi,

Did you ever find out?? I'm trying to help my father find his BM. He was born June 1961. I think that if you can find one person who was there, they could help us by giving names.. One door opens another.
Am thinking of hiring a private investigator.

Best,
Claire

Hi Claire,
Myself and my sister have been searching on and off for the last 30 years!!! & to make a long story short we we have gathered small bits and pieces of information but nothing really concrete.
The records of births in St Rita are now held in St Louises adoption agency in Dublin ...hopefully they will have your Dads records.(unfortunately our records are "missing")

We also went to Joyce House and that's where we found out we were born in St Ritas. What agency was your Dad adopted through? Ours was St Patrick's guild and we only got very basic info and to be honest we are not sure to believe any of it!!

There appears to have been lot of cover ups and false information given out and we were told the name given on our Birth certs as our BMs was falsified (even though it's supposed to be a legal document)

There is a book out called Banished Babies by Mike Milotte that you might be interested in as its all about Mrs Keating who ran St Ritas and it exposed a lot of legal dealing and is worth a read.

We also hired a private investigator but he got nowhere at all.

We were baptised in Donnybrook church and a Mary Jordan stood for us according to records (we have no idea who she is but maybe she worked in the nursing home?) But again couldn't get any info about her.

Hopefully this will be some help to you in your search.

If you have any questions feel free to ask and maybe I can help!!

Best of luck in your search.

Sal

Claire9592

Hi Sal,

Just wanted to let you know that we have found out who my dad's birth parents! Both are dead, unfortunately but we have found siblings (both full and half). It's been a very positive experience so far.
How we discovered it was through ''23 and Me'' - the DNA database.
Happy to discuss this further with you. Tell me if you want my email address.

One of his sisters had to go back to St Patrick's Guild 5 times before they released information to her about her adoption. Ridiculous goings-on. But the DNA test bypasses all the BS and lies!

I haven't read Banished Babies, although my Dad has. I must get on to it! There are a lot of similarities between you and my Dad and all his siblings who were adopted through St Ritas, including the baptism in Donnybrook Church.. It was a very organised process they had going on there..
Let me know if you want to know more about the DNA test we did.

Kind Regards,
Claire

Flam1n1us

Hi, I'm new to this and looking for any information. Sorry if my questions are basic / stupid but I'm trying to understand how things worked in the 50s after the Adoption Act was passed.

*Does anyone know how mothers went to St Rita's or other private nursing homes in Dublin to have their babies?

Were they already in a mother & baby home for weeks or months before the birth.

Did they go back to the mother & baby home with the baby - for how long

Did they stay in the m and b home until the adoption was arranged.

Did some m and b homes send girls to Holles St, Rotunda or the Coombe

Were the private nursing homes connected to the Maternity hospitals

Who paid for the private nursing homes.

Were babies baptised first before the birth was registered with the GRO

Thanks for any information.

Claire9592

Hi Flam1n1us,

No questions are stupid or basic. Adoption in the 1950s onwards was deliberately muddied and made complicated to hide traces. I think each and every story is different for the women involved.

I can only speak from what I now know about my father's own adoption, which is still very little. Whilst parents were told they were given a newborn baby of 2-3 days old, I think some of the babies were older (3 weeks in our specific case). They were in St Rita's until the adoption took place. My grandfather paid for my dad's stay in St Ritas, and he was baptised in Donnybrook Church.

The HSE and all the boards are very very very slow in giving out information. In many cases you have to keep going back and demand to see records. They may even tell you that there are no records to deter you. It's all very shady.

If you are personally looking for family, I cannot highly recommend using 23 and Me! I know of another adoptee who has now reconnected with his biological family.

Best,
Claire