Adopted boy passed off as couple’s ‘natural child’, mother says

A woman has claimed her new born son was passed off as the natural child of a couple after she believed he was sent for adoption 54 years ago.

In High Court proceedings, the mother and son, who were reunited in recent years, are suing a private adoption organisation over what they allege were fraudulent documents stating the baby was the natural child of the couple who brought up the boy.

They are also suing the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the State over allegedly failing or refusing to provide information once the mother discovered what allegedly happened.

The defendants deny the claims against them.

In a pre-trial application, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan was asked by the authority to direct the plaintiffs to provide more details in relation to their claims so the case can be fully defended.

Further particulars

The judge directed the plaintiffs to provide further particulars, within three weeks, about certain matters set out in a detailed submission from the authority.

Eanna Mulloy SC, for the mother and son, said the woman, when aged 21 in 1961, gave birth to the child in Dublin by arrangement, having travelled from England. She later spent years trying to find out who had adopted him, counsel said.

The authority, since 2001, did nothing although it was well aware her son was registered as the natural child of a couple from a town in the country, he said.

The boy had “a horrific upbringing by his putative father” in that country town, counsel added.

Asked by Mr Justice Gilligan was it the case the natural mother never consented to adoption, counsel said she did consent but it was not done in accordance with law.

Documentation relating to the baby was fraudulent in that he was “passed off as the true natural first child” of the couple from the country town, counsel said. It was only in 2006 the birth mother “got wind from a nun in the adoption society” of what actually happened.

The mother took out her own birth certificate for the child in 2009 in the name she had given him, and with her surname, although he had originally been registered in another first name and the surname of the other couple.

The mother, who lives in England, was reunited in the last two years with the son, counsel also said.