Incorrect registration of births ‘another failure by the State’

Tusla, the child and family agency, is to contact 126 people to tell them that their births were incorrectly registered, and that the parents who brought them up are not their birth parents.

The 126 people had their adoptive parents incorrectly registered as their birth parents on their birth certificates between 1946 and 1969. The youngest person affected is 49, Tusla said, and the oldest is 72.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone said she was "truly sorry" for what she described as "another failure by the State".

The incorrect registrations emerged in the records of the St Patrick’s Guild adoption society. A sample of other records from other adoption agencies will now be examined to establish if the illegal practice of incorrect registrations occurred elsewhere.

Ms Zappone announced the move today at Government Buildings, having briefed her Government colleagues at the Cabinet meeting this morning. She said there would be “personal and profound implications for those affected”.

The Minister told her colleagues that she had become aware of the issue in February, and this was when gardaí were also informed. Cabinet sources said they understood that further revelations were expected.

Ms Zappone said at her press conference that Tusla had briefed her last Thursday about the issue. Her spokesman said that Tusla had confirmed the existence of the false registrations last week. Prior to that, he said, there were “suspicions”, but nothing was “confirmed”,

‘Keenly aware’

The Minister said that people affected would be told that the parents on their birth certificate were actually not their birth parents. She said she was “keenly aware that many of those affected have no idea that the people they regarded as their parents were not in fact their birth parents.”

She said that in many cases, “as far as we are aware that they have no reason to suspect.”

“In effect babies were given to a couple and registered as the child of that couple and not of the baby’s birth parents,” Ms Zappone explained. “There is no adoption order and so no record with the Adoption Authority of Ireland.”

Tusla has identified 126 individuals among 13,500 records from St Patrick’s Guild, whose birth was incorrectly registered between 1946 and 1969.

Ms Zappone said that she and her colleagues had “struggled” with the question of whether those involved should be told.

“But people have a right to know who they are,” she said.

The St Patrick’s Guild adoption society was run by the Sisters of Charity order of nuns. It ceased operations in 2010, and its records were transferred to Tusla in 2016.

Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland will now examine a sample of records from other adoption agencies to see if there is any indication that similar practices were operated by them.

In the case of St Patrick’s Guild, records that specified the child was “adopted from birth” proved to be the the false registrations.

Traced

Officials said it was unclear whether the birth parents of the children concerned could be traced.

Ms Zappone said that the question of compensation for those affected was unclear at the moment, but that the Government would look at the issue “on a case by case basis.”

She said the revelation could have implications for inheritance for the persons concerned, as they had been incorrectly and illegally registered as the children of people to whom they were not related, but she indicated there was a process to amend the registration retrospectively.

A statement from Tusla said the agency was unable to say how long the process of tracing the people affected would take.

“Tracing people is often slow, labour-intensive work, but we have created an experienced social work team dedicated to tracing these people in the hope that the work will be completed as quickly as possible,” Tusla said.

“We would like to clarify that based on information currently available the only people who may be affected by this annoucement are those born between 1946 and 1969, who were placed through St Patrick’s Guild and who do not have an adoption order.”