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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Lisa O'Carroll

New Irish adoption law opens wounds as 900 register to trace birth families

Protesters in 2021 outside the Irish Mother and Baby Home Commission's Office in Dublin.
Protesters in 2021 outside the Irish Mother and Baby Home Commission's Office in Dublin. Photograph: NurPhoto/Getty Images

An 81-year-old, adopted as a child, and a 74-year-old mother who gave up her baby for adoption, are among 900 people who have registered to trace their parents or children after landmark legislation was passed in Ireland.

The public response to the new laws, which came into force on 1 July, is opening decades-old wounds for children and parents who were separated at birth, some sent to the UK or the US, during the past 100 years.

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