Thousands
of single mothers in Ireland who had their children taken from them and
forced into adoption may flood the courts after a High Court decision
allowed a woman to sue for damages for an illegal adoption of her child
in the 1970s.
Many
of the children were adopted through Catholic church circles in America
and a thriving baby trade existed for decades with children literally
being bought from Ireland via a church network.
The
woman, who claims she was not consulted when as a teen mother, her baby
was taken for adoption, is suing a religious order and the HSE, as
successor to the adoption agency which arranged the placement of her
daughter more than 40 years ago, reports the Irish Examiner.
She
claims the adoption was done without her knowledge or consent while she
was a resident with the order and that she suffered psychological harm,
among other injuries, due to the defendants’ alleged negligence, breach
of duty, and breach of her constitutional rights.
The woman also claims fraud and undue influence in relation to documents she allegedly signed for the adoption.
The
claims have been denied.
Justice Sean Ryan, dealing only with a preliminary issue as to whether
the woman could sue for damages, described the case as a difficult,
sensitive and painful one.
He
said the woman in the case, who is not contesting the adoption order,
had no desire to upset the arrangement which had been made for her now
adult child but was confining her claim to the alleged wrongs done to
her.
The
defence argued that the woman was not entitled to claim damages without
first challenging the validity of the adoption order and without also
possibly bringing others into the case, such as the child, the adoptive
parents, and the Adoption Authority of Ireland.
The
judge said the issue was whether the woman could prove her damages case
without proving facts which might invalidate the adoption order.
The
religious order involved argued that the woman could not claim damages
for being wrongfully deprived of her child unless the adoption order
was declared invalid.
The
judge, who ruled in the woman's favor, said it was not a precondition
of seeking damages for her to include a claim that the adoption order
was invalid. He said did not follow as a matter of law or logic that
there should be such a rule.