Abuse in Care: Babies ‘abducted’ from young and lonely mothers by the service of the Anglican Church

A young mother was forced to give birth to her baby while on her side, so she could never see her face.

Only days later, even without ever having seen him, desperately wanting to be his mother, she was forced to sign a paperwork, giving him up for adoption.

This was the experience of Ms D, whose identity is protected, in 1969 at Anglican Saint Mary’s Home for Unwed Mothers in Auckland, as reported to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Abuse in Care.

Saint Mary’s was a place that today might sound like something out of The Handmaid’s Tale, only it was real.

Ms. D grew up in Tauranga and became pregnant at 15 with an older boy who “cheated on” her. “He was so young that he didn’t know what it was.”

On the advice of her local Anglican church, Mrs. D’s mother took her daughter to St Mary’s, believing that they would provide her with the best care.

Instead, young women were subjected to inhumane conditions.

They were stripped of their identities, referred to only as “Gallagher Girls,” in honor of Matron Rhoda Gallagher, who has since died.

They were forced to wear the same clothes, and were not even allowed to wear underwear, they were told it would “harm the baby.”

Gallagher beat women and insulted them incessantly, telling them they were worth nothing.

“He said I deserved it because I was promiscuous,” said Ms. D.

She wanted very much to stay with her son, but was forced to sign documents that adopted him from another family.

About two years later, Mrs D became pregnant again and was sent back to St Mary’s.

This time she was more determined to keep her baby, a daughter, but again the baby was taken from her.

Ms. D and her mother found out a few days later that the baby was being transferred to a new family.

They were told that the adoption did not work out because the baby was “Maori and dark skinned”, but when they met her with the new parents, they found her “black and blue with bruises”. She was 11 days old.

Ms. D managed to get her baby back, but she and her mother were turned away by authorities when they sought justice for the abuse, despite having photographic evidence.

During her stay at the center, Ms. D said that she was sexually abused by two doctors during medical examinations.

She also witnessed women receiving inadequate medical treatment, one who died with her twins in childbirth after being alone in labor for two days.

Young mothers were not allowed to see newborn babies. They could only glimpse when a “kind nurse” left the curtain open at night, “by accident.”

“I remember we would wake up to each other just to try to see our babies,” said Ms. D.

She feared for the safety of the babies and for their development due to abandonment from birth.

“It still bothers me the memory of the little ones stretching their arms so that they were raised, hugged and hugged and forbidden to comfort them.

“I don’t understand how a supposedly Christian institution can be so barbaric for children.

“It torments me.”

Ms. D, 67, who works as a nurse, has had more children, grandchildren and relationships, but said the abuse has affected her greatly throughout her life.

“For decades I lived with the effects of being shamed, humiliated, abused and raped as a teenager.”

From 2012 to 2015, he requested redress and an apology from the Church.

Finally, although he acknowledged his mistreatment, he denied any legal responsibility and refused any compensation.

He could not currently afford to take legal action against the Church, he said.

On Wednesday, the commission also heard from Margaret Wilkinson, who in 1964 at age 19 was sent to St Mary’s for six months after becoming pregnant.

They gave her an unknown drug to induce her birth, and Gallagher abducted her baby, who she also desperately wanted to keep, while she slept.

They drugged her without consent, administered medications to stop lactation, and had her breasts tied tightly.

His young daughter was given to an Anglican woman who was a member of the Diocese of Auckland. Wilkinson believed that babies were often given to Gallagher’s friends.

Wilkinson was allowed to see his daughter, but not touch her.

She said she was forced to sign legal documents to adopt her baby eight days after the birth, even though the law states that 10 days must have passed.

“Some people call it ‘forced adoption,’ I prefer to call it kidnapping,” Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson has been fighting for decades for redress for women like her and Ms. D, and for the government to launch an official investigation.

Like Ms. D, Wilkinson said the Anglican Church turned her down seeking redress.

Speaking on behalf of the New Zealand Mothers of Loss to Adoption for Justice advocacy group, Wilkinson appealed for a public apology and established support services, as has happened abroad, from the Government and the Church for their forced adoption practices.

“We ask you to listen to us. Let them hear how women, and known and unknown families, have had to endure a terrible injustice, the mourning of the missing members and the search for their inclusion continue to be experiences that, if not resolved, continue to haunt the search for well-being that everyone should take part “.

• To register with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, call 0800 222 727 or send an email to [email protected]. You can find more information online.

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