The investigation into institutions for single mothers in Northern Ireland has found that pregnant women and babies may have spent time in private care homes as a “secrecy measure”.

An investigative body, the Independent Truth Recovery Panelresearches and gathers evidence about mother and baby homesMagdalene Laundries and workshops.

Panel co-chair Professor Leanne McCormick said there was evidence that private care homes were used to house pregnant mothers, whose babies were then adopted.

It is estimated that at least 10,500 women were sent to institutions, commonly known as mother-baby homesin Northern Ireland, but incomplete records mean the figure could be higher.

So far, more than a hundred people have come forward to the panel, which collects information confidentially in a non-confrontational setting.

The committee is at the first stage of the investigation set up by the devolved government.

The work will feed into a public inquiry – which will examine alleged abuses, including forced adoptions.

Professor McCormick said: “We are increasingly aware that pregnant women are spending time in private care homes and babies are being adopted there.

“This means that authorities may not be aware of the situation in the same way as they would have been if they had been at local hospitals.

“We often found that women and babies were staying longer in these private care homes while clear decisions were being made about what would happen next.

“Sometimes babies are left without their mothers while decisions are made. »

She explained that the use of private nursing homes for childbirth was more common before the establishment of the NHS in 1948.

But this practice continued subsequently, in the 1960s and 1970s.

More than ten thousand women and girls passed through the institutions in Northern Ireland between the 1920s and 1990s.

Two care homes that came up as part of the panel’s work are Antrim House, in north Belfast, and Bayview, in Londonderry, both of which closed their doors several years ago.

In Northern Ireland, mother-and-baby institutions were primarily run by religious orders.

They included three ‘Magdalene Laundries’ in Belfast, Londonderry and Newry. – in fact, workshops where pregnant women and young girls were required to carry out demanding tasks.

Survivors used creative expressions of their experiences to try to encourage more people to seek help and come forward with their stories.

Caitriona Cunningham wrote the play The Marian Hotel, which is touring Northern Ireland and set in Marianvale in Newry.

The main character, Kitty, is based on Caitriona herself, who was in the institution from 1979 to 1980.

She described life there as “very regimented” with “everything geared toward adopting your baby.”

Caitriona said she was one of the “lucky few people” because “I got my daughter back when she was three months old”.

“But for years I didn’t tell anyone I was in Marianvale.

“More recently, it was on my mind all the time. I thought of other women.

“I started writing little notes and now this piece is what it’s culminated in.” It’s incredible.

Trauma support workers attend each performance.

Sole Purpose Productions artistic director Patricia Byrne explained: “They will be there to help anyone who will be affected or who might be moved by what they see. »

She said she hopes making public stories that have remained secret for so long will help reduce the stigma.

“The piece is really a call for people who may have been affected by mother and child institutions to come forward.”

Survivors have also curated an exhibition of original artwork and objects associated with the institutions in an exhibition called ‘The Tournesol Project’, currently on display at the Linen Hall Library in Belfast.

The items on display – such as a christening gown, toys and letters – capture the sense of love, loss and loneliness they felt.

These issues are also highlighted in a film released in theaters this month.

Small Things Like These – based on the novel by Claire Keegan – focuses on a laundry in Magdalen in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, in the 1980s..

Cillian Murphy plays a character, Bill Furlong, who is troubled by what he notices happening at the institution.

Professor Leanne McCormick is appealing to people living near institutions in Northern Ireland to contact the Truth Recovery Panel.

“We are interested in anyone with a connection to these institutions.

For example, some neighbors may have been aware of laundry coming in and out.

“The clergy may have brought people into these institutions.

“There are also magistrates, general practitioners, social workers, probation officers, midwives in local hospitals, masons who worked in institutions.

“Anyone with some understanding could help us piece together these stories. »

She also said the panel wanted to hear from members of the Protestant community – as most of the women who came forward worked in institutions run by Catholic organizations.

A network of institutions across the island of Ireland which housed single women and their babies at a time when pregnancy outside of marriage was considered scandalous.

There were more than a dozen such mother and baby homes in Northern Ireland.

Three of them had Catholic-run workshops, known as Magdalene Laundries, where women often had to carry out backbreaking, unpaid work.

A number of them were victims of sex crimes, including rape and incest, and “intense physical labor” was expected of residents in their late stages of pregnancy.

Many women and girls have been separated from their children by placing them in children’s homes, placing them in boarding (foster care), or adopting them.

There is also the question of the cross-border movement of women and children entering and leaving institutions.

The last institution in Northern Ireland closed in 1990.