I am Irish, my mother had a child before me, before she was married and he was given up for adoption after she went to a special place to have him, as it was not acceptable in the 1960's to be pregnant if unmarried. I see a lot of you are still looking for your birth mothers.

This cruelty of the experiences of women and children in the homes is currently in the news in Ireland and Internationally. The main Irish newspaper is Independants.ie or irishtimes.ie. Also have a look at a United Kingdom newspaper that is being covered by the famous reporter Martin Sixsmith in the Daily Mail newspaper.

He is also famous for the true story of the mother Philomena, in the recent movie of the same name starring Judy Dench. Philomena is still alive. Her adopted son reached high office in the US government, sadly she never met him, even though yearly both would ask the nuns for each other. He was returned in death to be buried in the grounds of the home in Ireland where he was born.

There was a horrific home in Tuam, Co. Galway, much like the other homes such as Bessboro in Cork.

Here is a link to an Irish political website where Irish people are discussing this topic politics.ie, see topic, mass unmarked graves in Tuam.

There is also a book by Goulding, a midwife in the Cork home, called The light at the window.

The main television and radio station is rte.ie. the respectable state broadcastor. There are podcasts on there. This issue is discussed this weekend. Try the following radio broadcasts, Mariane Finucane or during the week Joe Duffy.

Another radio station discussing this is newstalk.ie. Try the Pat Kenny show.

Just to warn a lot of the Americans, you may get upset about what you read and hear. You were the best babies, the most healthy ones, and the ones your parents would have 'donated' a lot if money for. If any of you have questions please ask, but I am not an expert, just hoping this post will help some of you understand what happened to you and your mothers.