Nearly 800 Infant Bodies Found at Former Catholic-Run Home for Unwed Mothers in Ireland
The memorial garden in Tuam looks peaceful from the street, with neat grass and quiet housing that suggests nothing of the tragedy beneath. Yet this week, workers began sealing off the site where investigators believe nearly 800 children are buried.
Forensic teams are beginning Ireland’s most extensive excavation to recover the remains of babies and toddlers who died at the former Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home between 1925 and 1961. Many were placed in what was once a sewage system, in conditions that would shock even by the standards of that era.
The search through underground chambers is expected to take two years. Each discovery matters to families who’ve waited generations for answers.
Ireland’s Hidden Institution System
Mother and baby homes operated across Ireland for most of the 20th century, housing unmarried pregnant women away from public view. The Catholic Church ran most of these facilities, reflecting the moral attitudes of the time toward women who became pregnant outside marriage.
These institutions bore little resemblance to modern hospitals or care facilities, operating more like punishment centers. Women arrived pregnant and ashamed, then worked through their pregnancies before giving birth and facing separation from their children within months. Society demanded these “problems” be hidden away, and these facilities served exactly that purpose.
The Tuam facility housed thousands of women and children during its 36-year operation, with infant mortality rates that were extremely high. Until recently, however, few people questioned what happened to all those who died there.
The broader system stretched across Ireland. Between 1922 and 1998, an estimated 90,000 women passed through these institutions, where 9,000 children died from disease, malnutrition, and neglect.