St. Patrick's Guild

tyview

Hi Whitemoon,

Just saw ur post and thought I'd just say that I was in temple hill for 6 weeks and my BM visited me and was allowed to take photos. She was brought into a very small room with only a chair in it and had to lie me down on it and take a couple of photos. It might be possible that your husbands BM visited him there too.

whitemoon

Thanks tyview never really thought about that before. Will see how things go with trace and maybe if sometime in the future there is contact we might be lucky enough to get something.

whitemoon

An update on search,

went into research room yesterday and found bm's marriage cert within ten mins!! Couldn't believe it, helped that names although not unusual, are not too common. Also found two brothers and a sister and the family address and the scary thing is that it is very close to the family home of a very good friend, actuallu across the road. Now I suppose we just sit and wait for St Patrick's to get back to us and then take things from there but the feeling of at least knowing now who she is helps a lot even if she does not want any contact.

ModeMadFan

Hi All,

I wanted to throw my tuppence worth in to the debate. I had dealing with a Social worker there when the office was in Haddington Road. Christine was her name and she was very nice and helpful. She found my birth Mother quite quickly but that was almost 15 years ago. I was told some things about my natural family like my parents married and had a number of siblings including twins. They said that there were not ready to meet as the children were wrong. As you all know there is that part of you like a jigsaw that is missing and will never go away until you get the answers you so crave. Anyway the weird thing is that I have asked a couple of Private Investigators to search for them and to date nothing. I've even gone into the Records office to try and trace the twins whom I believe, according to the information given to me, were born between 71-73. And Nothing!!

So now I am questioning everything I was told by Christine. Also I am questioning if my Mother came up with all this to throw people off the scent.

Like the other people I've found the marriage certificates of everyone with her name but again nothing.

I'm going to chance talking to Sister Francis who was really rude the last time I spoke to her about 18 months ago. I happened to phone when she was going on her holidays and she said she would ring back!! Nothing again.

I am so annoyed and frustrated that St Patrick's Guild have a file on me and I am not entitled to the information contained within it!! I know that's the way things are but it is so unfair to adopted people!!

I'll finish now before I explode and wish all who are searching the best of luck because I am now starting to question everything I was told about my natural family as every lead comes up as a dead end!!

Gary

justagirl

Hello Gary

I just came across this thread whilst having my own 'strop/moment' about how impossible the whole adoption research thing is....... Rant over !...

I notice your posting was back in March - have you had any joy since?

Myself - I am just trying to find my original birth cert, I know my BM name (have met etc), date of birth, place of birth and have searched under the name she wanted me called - but only birth on this day is in an entirely different hospital and different first name ........

Would anyone know if there was a house associated with St Patricks Guild/Temple Hill that women stayed in just before they gave birth in Holles Street?

Thanks so much

ModeMadFan wrote: »

Hi All,

I wanted to throw my tuppence worth in to the debate. I had dealing with a Social worker there when the office was in Haddington Road. Christine was her name and she was very nice and helpful. She found my birth Mother quite quickly but that was almost 15 years ago. I was told some things about my natural family like my parents married and had a number of siblings including twins. They said that there were not ready to meet as the children were wrong. As you all know there is that part of you like a jigsaw that is missing and will never go away until you get the answers you so crave. Anyway the weird thing is that I have asked a couple of Private Investigators to search for them and to date nothing. I've even gone into the Records office to try and trace the twins whom I believe, according to the information given to me, were born between 71-73. And Nothing!!

So now I am questioning everything I was told by Christine. Also I am questioning if my Mother came up with all this to throw people off the scent.

Like the other people I've found the marriage certificates of everyone with her name but again nothing.

I'm going to chance talking to Sister Francis who was really rude the last time I spoke to her about 18 months ago. I happened to phone when she was going on her holidays and she said she would ring back!! Nothing again.

I am so annoyed and frustrated that St Patrick's Guild have a file on me and I am not entitled to the information contained within it!! I know that's the way things are but it is so unfair to adopted people!!

I'll finish now before I explode and wish all who are searching the best of luck because I am now starting to question everything I was told about my natural family as every lead comes up as a dead end!!

Gary

ModeMadFan

Hi Justagirl,

No more news for me. I went back to St Patrick's Guild and basically told them that I had tried to search for my family with the information that they'd been given and I hadn't found anything.

They said they would try and contact my Birth Mother and see if the information given was true or was she trying to throw me off the scent.

Very disheartened now as I feel worse about my Birth Mother then when I was adopted.

Anyway we will wait and see.

Gary

justagirl

ModeMadFan wrote: »

Hi Justagirl,

No more news for me. I went back to St Patrick's Guild and basically told them that I had tried to search for my family with the information that they'd been given and I hadn't found anything.

They said they would try and contact my Birth Mother and see if the information given was true or was she trying to throw me off the scent.

Very disheartened now as I feel worse about my Birth Mother then when I was adopted.

Anyway we will wait and see.

Gary

Hi Gary

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I too think I was told, for want of a better word, 'incorrect' information. I don't know if St Pats Guild made it up (I too would have been in touch with SW about 15-20 yrs ago - I cannot remember her name) or if my BM gave them that information. I am in touch with my BM and I thought I was coming to the end of knowing everything - but now (it would need a whole new thread to explain!) ... I don't know if I should believe anything she has told me.

I do hope you get a response soon - as I'm sure they can easily make contact with your BM again.

The more I dig, the more I don't know. I am now wondering, should I have every started the search.

I wish you every best of luck Gary and do let us know how you get on.

justagirl

whitemoon wrote: »

An update on search,

went into research room yesterday and found bm's marriage cert within ten mins!! Couldn't believe it, helped that names although not unusual, are not too common. Also found two brothers and a sister and the family address and the scary thing is that it is very close to the family home of a very good friend, actuallu across the road. Now I suppose we just sit and wait for St Patrick's to get back to us and then take things from there but the feeling of at least knowing now who she is helps a lot even if she does not want any contact.

I was just wondering if you got any further in your husbands search?

whitemoon

hi justagirl,

since posting that quite a lot has happened. We met with St Patricks Guild and they gave us a note with non-identifying info, however there was a very slight difference to the non identifying info we received 20 years ago...the original info stated that bm was from Dublin and had 3 children. The new info said that she had a Dublin address but may have been from the SouthEast....well that sent me back searching again and unbelievably I found another woman, with the same name (not v common) born in the same year as the first but from Wexford. (i had confined my original seach to Dublin based on the info i had). The Wexford woman has two other children, not three and lives in Dublin.

So now we had two possible bms!! We contacted St Patricks and advised them of what we had found and asked them to try and make contact with her (whichever one she was!!) They eventually did and then asked hubby to write a short letter to her through them which she had agreed to. The letter sat in St Patricks for 3 months before she collected it. She did not want it posted as no one knows anything about hubby's existence. When she did pick it up she was apparently v emotional and wished she was able to meet him but did not have the strength to do it but did say she would reply.....never did. Aat this point we felt so frustrated... so near and yet so far... did not know which one she was...

one day, whilst surfing the net and searching I came across a photograph of the 2nd woman and the resemblance to hubby and my oldest daughter was uncanny...so eventually I took a chance and sent her a card at Easter, very discreet so that no one else would understand and asked her to contact me and gave my phone number....nothing. I felt if I had the wrong person they would have contacted me to say I had wrong address so a month later I sent another discreet card and said i would be in a specific coffee shop at 11 oc on the following Friday and I hoped she could make it. On the Thursday my husband received a phone call from St Patricks to say that bm had called over and would not be meeting me for coffee!! Well now we knew for sure who she was so there was comfort in that alone.

The funny thing is she moves in the same circles as my mother, her youngest son( who knows nothing about hubby) worked with my brother..it really is a v small world!!

3 weeks ago, hubby wrote her another letter and sent it to St Patricks. They contacted her to let her know it was there waiting for her and she said she would pick it up when she felt able to....so for now we continue to wait....Apologies for being so long winded but that is our story so far.... hope all goes well for you;)

justagirl

whitemoon wrote: »

hi justagirl,

since posting that quite a lot has happened. We met with St Patricks Guild and they gave us a note with non-identifying info, however there was a very slight difference to the non identifying info we received 20 years ago...the original info stated that bm was from Dublin and had 3 children. The new info said that she had a Dublin address but may have been from the SouthEast....well that sent me back searching again and unbelievably I found another woman, with the same name (not v common) born in the same year as the first but from Wexford. (i had confined my original seach to Dublin based on the info i had). The Wexford woman has two other children, not three and lives in Dublin.

So now we had two possible bms!! We contacted St Patricks and advised them of what we had found and asked them to try and make contact with her (whichever one she was!!) They eventually did and then asked hubby to write a short letter to her through them which she had agreed to. The letter sat in St Patricks for 3 months before she collected it. She did not want it posted as no one knows anything about hubby's existence. When she did pick it up she was apparently v emotional and wished she was able to meet him but did not have the strength to do it but did say she would reply.....never did. Aat this point we felt so frustrated... so near and yet so far... did not know which one she was...

one day, whilst surfing the net and searching I came across a photograph of the 2nd woman and the resemblance to hubby and my oldest daughter was uncanny...so eventually I took a chance and sent her a card at Easter, very discreet so that no one else would understand and asked her to contact me and gave my phone number....nothing. I felt if I had the wrong person they would have contacted me to say I had wrong address so a month later I sent another discreet card and said i would be in a specific coffee shop at 11 oc on the following Friday and I hoped she could make it. On the Thursday my husband received a phone call from St Patricks to say that bm had called over and would not be meeting me for coffee!! Well now we knew for sure who she was so there was comfort in that alone.

The funny thing is she moves in the same circles as my mother, her youngest son( who knows nothing about hubby) worked with my brother..it really is a v small world!!

3 weeks ago, hubby wrote her another letter and sent it to St Patricks. They contacted her to let her know it was there waiting for her and she said she would pick it up when she felt able to....so for now we continue to wait....Apologies for being so long winded but that is our story so far.... hope all goes well for you;)

No apologies needed at all - your reply was certainly not long winded I am delighted you are at least on the right track and have gotten the correct information this time.

What a rollercoaster for you all. You are so right about it being such a small world. I wonder if your husbands BM knows who your husband is?

adopt75

Hi there I.was adopted out of temple hill in the 70's I was born in April 1975 how do I go about possibly tracing my birth mother etc. Any info help greatly greatly appreciated.

munchkin_utd

adopt75 wrote: »

Hi there I.was adopted out of temple hill in the 70's I was born in April 1975 how do I go about possibly tracing my birth mother etc. Any info help greatly greatly appreciated.

maybe start with reading the really useful sticky page with all the references and info ?
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055042732

anything that could/can be said here is already readable there.

Hermy

adopt75 wrote: »

Hi there I.was adopted out of temple hill in the 70's I was born in April 1975 how do I go about possibly tracing my birth mother etc. Any info help greatly greatly appreciated.

What munchkin_utd said but also...

What do you know already?
Do you know your date of birth/ original christian name/ mothers name?
These three items can be enough to help you trace your original birth cert.

Hermy

Here's a brief description of what I did.

adopt75

="Hermy;90778024"]What munchkin_utd said but also...

What do you know already?
Do you know your date of birth/ original christian name/ mothers name?
These three items can be enough to help you trace your original birth cert.[/quote]

Hi there unfortunately all I have to go by is my date of birth and that I was adopted out of temple hill Blackrock in Dublin. Didn't know I could possibly try and get my original birth cert.

Ghekko

Hi adopt75. If you first of all register on the National Contact Preference Register you may be lucky to find that your bm is also registered. Though I am not sure how long it takes them to make a match and let people know. Then write to the agency you were adopted through - do you know 100% if its the correct one? We thought Dh was adopted through a particular agency but turned out he wasn't. Also thought he was born in Dublin but again, he wasn't! If you can get non identifying information through the agency it should be enough to find your original birth cert. Ask specific questions when you write to them. Use the tracing guide for examples of questions. Once you have your original birth name and your bm first name along with your date of birth you will have sufficient information to look through the registers in Werbergh Street, Dublin to find your birth cert. best of luck with it. In the meantime you may be lucky to get called to see a social worker about your case but I think waiting times in Dublin are long so might be best to start yourself. If you did find what you thought is your original birth cert you could always contact the agency and tell them you have this information and want it verified.

adopt75

Ghekko wrote: »

Hi adopt75. If you first of all register on the National Contact Preference Register you may be lucky to find that your bm is also registered. Though I am not sure how long it takes them to make a match and let people know. Then write to the agency you were adopted through - do you know 100% if its the correct one? We thought Dh was adopted through a particular agency but turned out he wasn't. Also thought he was born in Dublin but again, he wasn't! If you can get non identifying information through the agency it should be enough to find your original birth cert. Ask specific questions when you write to them. Use the tracing guide for examples of questions. Once you have your original birth name and your bm first name along with your date of birth you will have sufficient information to look through the registers in Werbergh Street, Dublin to find your birth cert. best of luck with it. In the meantime you may be lucky to get called to see a social worker about your case but I think waiting times in Dublin are long so might be best to start yourself. If you did find what you thought is your original birth cert you could always contact the agency and tell them you have this information and want it verified.

Thanks so much for the info I've looked at this agency etc and now have forms that I will fill out and send to them. Yes was 100% temple hill in Dublin in.1975 where I was adopted from.

figum

neelyohara wrote: »

Ah Sr Francis, I haven't heard about her in a long time. She's a formidable force when it comes to extracting information.

Grudgingly I have to say that in the end she did come through for me (tracing my mothers natural family). She had this incredible roundabout way of tracking somebody down... in so far as dealing with missionaries in Tasmania. Had she some common sense she would have seen (as referenced many times in the file) my Grandfather boarded at Blackrock. When I got the file I gave the archivist in Blackrock a quick call. She couldn't understand why Sr Fancis didn't call their directly, they could have provided her with a wealth of information including contact information. A day later the archivist sent me a lovely package of information on my Grandfather... from photographs of school plays, records of his fees paid (which includes what he had for breakfast, when he had his shoes repaired, etc!). She even put me in contact with people he went to school with.

When the natural family agreed to release their information she prepared a large file for us. It started with what could be described as a five page 'story' of the adoption. Dates, times, names, etc made up from notes. A timeline of what had happened. This was then followed by a thick file of photocopied letters. I was disappointed to see some letters had black marker through them, when I queried this I was told 'That doesn't concern you dear...'. I believe my great-grandmother (on grandfathers side) became friends with the social worker involved and those blacked out lines may related to that.

Oh and my mother was 'adopted' in the 40s (predating adoption law), technically she used her mothers name up until the week before she married (at 27) when her name changed to that of her adoptive parents - so we always had her mothers first and last name.

I guess the point of my rambling is that eventually they should manage to provide you with information. This may take years. I was a little girl (sitting under a table with a doll) when I first went to the Guild. We finally made contact with my grandfathers family when I was 25.

The only advice I can give is to annoy them, keep your file fresh... write to them, email them, telephone them. Aim to make contact every couple of weeks looking for new information. Take every hint they give you and work on it (but don't get distracted). Keep on top of the legislation, be active in forums and groups and make contacts.... oh, and be nice but firm with Sr Francis!

Had the researchers in the Guild some cop on they could have traced my grandfather years before he died, the file is almost a breadcrumb trail to his location.

Good luck with your search... you'll get there eventually.

wow! what a story! By any chance have you got an email address I could write to? Thanking you.

marttom

Hi Peter just ssw your post I know its s while ago .I trained in Temple hill in 1983 I have some photos snd name tags if you want to send me a pm with your birth name I will check if I have it ,I really would love to give them back.best wishes Nuala

Maria McLaughlin

I am a birth mother and I have been trying for years to trace my son who was born on 21st October 1981, I came directly from Loughlinstown Hospital and to St. Patricks Guild Haddington Road. THis was the saddest day of my life. I have tried to trace my son ringing Social Worker Christine who told me that she had written to my son but he was not in a position to contact me. I contacted Sr. Francis who I felt had no understanding or emphaty in what birth mothers live with when they have to give their heart and soul away. My beautiful baby boy who I love forever - I called him Peter Martin after Padre Pio and St. Martin. I have a strong belief and faith that I will one day be re-united with my son who will be age 33 years old now probably with a lovely family of his own. I just want to know that I gave him the best chance in life with a loving family who could provide for all his needs and love him as he should be loved and how I would have and still do to the day I leave this earth.

I am going to continue to search for my son and if he does not want to meet with me then that will be his choice and I will respect this. I hope that he will want to meet with me and I pray that I will find him.

marcie

hi there i am looking for my sister she was born april 1973 she was in st patricks guilds,she was there for 2 months before a suitable family, we are desperate to find out information about her looking forward to getting any news on her.

kathy finn

Hi Marcie,
St Patricks Guild was an adoption agency most babies would be kept in temple hill hospital. If you know her date of birth and birthname you can get her orignal birthcert, from there you can look through adoption books by date of birth for her new adoption name. GRO werburge st holds all BMD and adoption books.

ModeMadFan

Best of luck Marcie

jleavy046

marcie wrote: »

hi there i am looking for my sister she was born april 1973 she was in st patricks guilds,she was there for 2 months before a suitable family, we are desperate to find out information about her looking forward to getting any news on her.

For records:

http://www.tusla.ie/services/alternative-care/adoption-services/tracing-service/where-are-records-held

"As of Wednesday, 25 May 2016 the adoption records of St. Patrick’s Guild Adoption Society have been transferred to Tusla – Child and Family Agency. The records transferred include details of adoption and fostering arrangements of children from 1910 onwards."

justagirl

jleavy046 wrote: »

For records:

http://www.tusla.ie/services/alternative-care/adoption-services/tracing-service/where-are-records-held

"As of Wednesday, 25 May 2016 the adoption records of St. Patrick’s Guild Adoption Society have been transferred to Tusla – Child and Family Agency. The records transferred include details of adoption and fostering arrangements of children from 1910 onwards."

Thanks you for that information.

Just wondering if anyone here who has previously had contact with St Patricks Guild and are now in contact with Tusla? Mind you, just looked at the transfer date - probably not as yet.

ModeMadFan

Not me.