Bethany Home (sometimes called Bethany House or Bethany Mother and Child Home) was a residential home in Dublin for women of the Protestant faith, convicted of petty theft, prostitution, infanticide, as well as for women who were pregnant out of wedlock, and the children of these women. The home was run by evangelical members of the Church of Ireland and catered to "fallen women" from their community. It operated in Blackhall Place, Dublin (1921-34), and in Orwell Road, Rathgar (1934-72), until its closure. The home sent many children to Northern Ireland and England.
Contents |
It was founded in Blackhall Place in Dublin in 1921, and moved to Orwell Road, Rathgar in 1934, where it was based until it was closed in 1972.[1] On opening the home in May 1922 the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, John Allen Fitzgerald Gregg, Bethany was declared "a door of hope for fallen women". Following the passage of the Registration of Maternity Homes Act of 1934, Bethany House became subject to inspection from the Department of Health.[2]
Former residents have claimed that as children they were victims of physical abuse and neglect while resident in the home, and that this accounted for the high fatality rate amongst children in the institution.[3]
It is claimed that the home was not run by the Church of Ireland itself but was affiliated to it, and members of the church sat on the board of the home. In a letter dated 9 April 1945 from the then Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Arthur William Barton, to Gerald Boland, then Minister for Justice, described the home as "a suitable place for Protestant girls on remand".[4] Bethany Home was already a place recognised by the courts as a place of detention, as a result of this the home was subject to departmental inspection.
The government's Deputy Chief Medical Adviser, Winslow Sterling Berry, who inspected the home in the 1930s and 1940s, acknowledged that the issue of illegitimate children was a "delicate" one,[5] and requested that Bethany Home cease admitting Roman Catholic babies due to complaints from the Catholic Church.
The home was seen in some quarters as an alleged institution for promoting the Protestant faith. Superintendent of the Irish Church Missions to the Roman Catholics Rev. T.C. Hammond, was a managing committee member of the home.[6] In the 1950s Bethany Home reportedly facilitated the adoptions of their wards by Protestant families in the United States and Australia.[7]
The home was closed in 1972. In 1974 its assets were distributed to two other Church of Ireland run institutions 85% to the Church of Ireland, Magdalen Home (founded by Lady Arabella Denny) on Leeson St., and 15% to Miss Carr's Home, North Circular Road, Dublin.[5] The records of the Bethany Home are held by PACT (the Protestant adoption service), along with records of other Church of Ireland social services.[8]
More than 220 children died in Bethany Home and were buried in unmarked graves in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin.[9] In 2010, a memorial was erected in the cemetery to remember them, in attendance was some former residents and relatives of residents along with public figures such as independent Senator David Norris and Labour Equality spokeswoman, Kathleen Lynch.[10]
The Bethany Home Survivors Group campaign on behalf of survivors of the home, the children who were detained there and who suffered abuse at the home. The group's campaigns to the Church of Ireland[11] and to the Irish government and the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, for inclusion in the state redress scheme,[12] The home is subject to ongoing calls to be added to the State redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse.[13] similar to those who were victims of abuse in institutions run by Catholic organisations.[14] In May 2011 the survivors group met with the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Rev Dr Michael Jackson, as part of their campaign.[15]
Since the announcement of a inquiry, headed by Senator Martin McAleese, into the State's role in the Magdalene Laundries, the Minister of Education, Ruairi Quinn, has refused to include Bethany Home in the inquiry.[16]
Justice for Magdalenes (JFM) supports the call for the inclusion of the Bethany Home in Inquiry into the Magdalane Asylums.[5]