Revised version uploaded 17th March 2021:
Click here to download the guide in Microsoft Word format
Click here to download the guide in PDF format
What is this guide about?
On 10th March 2021, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., announced a Consultation Process on the development of an ex-gratia ‘Restorative Recognition Scheme’, following the Government’s publication of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Report. This guide is designed to assist anyone who wishes to make a submission to that Consultation Process. This guide is not an application form for the ‘Restorative Recognition Scheme’ (the Scheme has not yet been established).
Who can use this guide?
Anyone who wishes to use this guide may do so, and please feel free to share it widely. We encourage anyone affected by adoption (legal or illegal, informal or formal), fostering, boarding out, the Mother and Baby Homes or the County Homes to use this guide to make a submission to the Consultation Process.
Minister O’Gorman has stated that the Government intends to provide a ‘comprehensive, meaningful and generous response’ to how women, girls and their children were treated in Mother and Baby Homes, County Homes and through related practices. The Minister has noted that, while the civil servants responsible for designing a ‘Restorative Recognition Scheme’ will consider the recommendations of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation, their ‘considerations are not restricted’ to the Commission’s recommendations.
How do I use this guide?
You can print off this guide and fill it in by hand, or you can use it to create your submission on your computer. We have tried to make this guide as inclusive as possible and therefore it is quite a large document. If you are using your computer to compile your submission using this guide, feel free to delete any section of the document that you do not find relevant.
If you wish to add notes to your submission about issues that may not affect you personally but that you know to be relevant for others who were adopted / boarded out / institutionalised in a Mother and Baby Home or County Home, you are free to do so.
Where do I send my submission to?
You must send your submission to OAK Consulting by the deadline of Wednesday 31 March 2021. You can either email your submission to submissions@oakconsulting.ie or it can be sent via post to OAK Consulting, FREEPOST F5055.
If you wish, you can also send a copy of your submission to the Clann Project at info@clannproject.org to help us in our research and advocacy work. If you prefer, you can delete your personal details before sending to us. The Clann Project operates under strict ethical protocols which can be viewed here.
What if I don’t want to make a written submission?
You can share your views on what the ‘Restorative Recognition Scheme’ should include by participating in an Online Consultation Meeting. These meetings will take place from 18th to 31st March 2021 and will be facilitated by OAK Consulting. If you plan to attend an Online Consultation Meeting, please feel free to use this guide as a way of gathering your thoughts on the ‘Restorative Recognition Scheme’.
The closing date to register for an Online Consultation Meeting is 24th March 2021. To register your interest email onlineconsultation@oakconsulting.ie.