The Larkin & Moran Brothers

August 2016 Irish American News “WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN GREEN!” 33
Just some of the wonderful people who make the Shamrock American Room a beautiful
“Tea Room” for the Irish Fest at the Irish American Heritage Center each year!
Senior Group Meetings
As usual our senior group
meetings at both the Irish American
Heritage Center and Gaelic
Park have been suspended for
the month of August. We will
be back with an exciting new
schedule of programs in September.
We wish all those that
come to our group meetings a
very happy and healthy summer.
We are available to anyone
who may need our assistance
throughout our summer break
and can be contacted at the office
on 773-282-8445.
Shedding New Light on a
Dark Corner of Irish History
No doubt many readers will
be aware of the Mother and Baby
homes that operated in Ireland
for a large portion of the 20th
Century. The homes were designed
to ‘deal’ with unmarried
mothers and their ‘illegitimate’
children. Thankfully, we now
find ourselves in less punitive
times. More recently the Mother
and Baby home have come
to the attention of the general
public through media coverage,
books, and movies. Capturing
the stories and experiences of
the people who passed though
these institutions is an important
undertaking of a new research
program called Clann (the Irish
word for family).
Clann is a joint initiative by
Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA)
and JFM Research (JFMR) which
is being delivered in association
with global law firm, Hogan
Lovells. Its purpose is to help
establish the truth of what happened
to unmarried mothers
and their children in 20th century
Ireland, following the establishment
of a Commission of
Investigation into the operation
of the Mother and Baby Homes
by the Irish government. Clann
formally launched on June 15,
2016 in Ireland.
This project is relevant to the
2000+ children who were adopted
from Ireland to the USA
between the late 1940s and early
1970s (the so called “Banished
Babies”). Equally, it is relevant
to the countless Irish natural
mothers whose children were
adopted (and, no doubt, some
natural fathers), who made
their way to and now live in
the USA. Additionally, given
the involvement of US-based
adoption workers, social workers,
and child services agencies
and Catholic Charities personnel
in handling the Irish-US adoptions,
there may well be other
witnesses whose testimony is
important.
Clann’s aims:
•To enable people who were
affected by any of the 170+ institutions,
organisations, agencies
or individuals involved with
Ireland’s unmarried mothers
and their children to contribute
to the public record.
•To ensure that the Commission
of Investigation into the
Mother and Baby Homes conducts
the most comprehensive
investigation possible and that it
makes appropriate findings and
recommendations.
•To arrange free witness statement
drafting assistance to
enable people to make a comprehensive
statement to the
Commission.
•To compile a group submission
on behalf of those affected
by Ireland’s treatment of unmarried
mothers and their children.
•To create a permanent archive
of the experiences of Ireland’s
unmarried mothers and
their children via the Clann
website, as a resource for individuals
affected by the issues,
and which will be available to
the wider public for ongoing
education and research.
The Coalition of Irish Immigration
Centers (CIIC) and
its membership throughout
the United States, are assisting
Clann in the distribution
of this information to ensure
that any individual who was
involved with the Mother and
Baby homes and wishes to tell
their story, has the opportunity
to do so, with the support and
assistance of the Clann initiative.
There is no obligation on any
person who avails of assistance
through Clann to make their
testimony public. In the first
instance, you will be asked
whether you would like to send
your testimony confidentially
to the Commission of Investigation.
Secondly, you will have
the opportunity to contribute
your testimony (anonymised)
to Clann’s group report, but
the choice whether to do so is
entirely yours.
For more information on
Clann and how to avail of assistance
in providing testimony
or documentary evidence, please
visit: http://clannproject.org/
or email info@clannproject.org
Alternatively, please write to
Rod Baker, Hogan Lovells International
LLP, Atlantic House,
Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A
2FG, UK with your contact details.For
more information on the
process of testimony gathering,
please see Clann’s Information
Form and also Clann’s Guide to
the Commission of Investigation
into Mother and Baby Homes.
For hard copies of these documents
contact Clann at info@
clannproject.org or Rod Baker,
Hogan Lovells International
LLP, Atlantic House, Holborn
Viaduct, London,
EC1A 2FG, UK.