Chapter 4 — Circumstances of admission

Reasons for admission

Social circumstances, including combinations of poverty, illness, neglect, parental death, non-marital birth and unemployment were reported as significant factors in the admission of all 791 witnesses to the School system. Two hundred and forty one (241) witnesses (30%), 119 male and 122 female, reported parental alcohol abuse, poverty, unemployment, family violence and lack of care and control at home as contributory factors in their admission to a School.

Two hundred and twenty nine (229) witnesses (29%), 88 male and 141 female, identified themselves as non-marital children, who as a consequence of the circumstances of their birth were generally in some form of institutional care for most of their childhood.

One hundred and forty (140) witnesses (18%), 75 male and 65 female, reported the death of one or both parents as a significant factor in their admission to a School. Of those, the mother’s death preceded admission in 82 instances and father’s death preceded admission in 49 instances. Death of both parents was reported as a reason for admission in nine instances. The main known causes of death reported by male and female witnesses were tuberculosis, mother’s death in childbirth, cancer and heart disease. My father died, my mother had 8 of us. She went to the parish priest, she was friendly with him, and he said “put them into an orphanage until you get yourself sorted out in your new home”. So she went to the Court, she was looking for a pound, that’s all she wanted, a pound a week. But they threw her out of Court and put us into Schools, all except the youngest of us.

One hundred and eleven (111) witnesses (14%), 107 male and four female, reported that their conviction for criminal offences was the major factor leading to their admission to a School.2 The nature of the offences mainly involved theft of food, fuel, bicycles, clothing or money. There were eight reports from male witnesses of admission as a result of charges for more serious offences such as ‘breaking and entering’ and ‘attacks on the person’.

Sixty seven (67) witnesses, 38 male and 29 female, reported parental abandonment as a factor in the circumstances leading to their admission. Fifty one (51) of these reports referred to fathers leaving the family home, sometimes to seek work in the UK or USA, at other times leaving the family home in the context of domestic violence, alcohol abuse or illness. Witnesses reported the remaining parent, usually the child’s mother, was unable to manage alone and by a variety of means children were placed in institutional care. Sixteen (16) witnesses reported that their mother left the family home, in circumstances similar to those reported above and with similar consequences. I didn’t deserve the life they gave me, I was and am branded a criminal by the Courts and I did nothing wrong, all because the ...X... County Council wouldn’t spend a few lousy pounds repairing our house and because they would rather give money to the ...named religious order... to look after us than give my mother some help after he ...(father)... left so that we could stay together as a family....

Fifty six (56) witnesses were admitted to institutional care as a result of a Court Order under the School Attendance Acts. Non-attendance at school was reported by a number of witnesses to be the result of difficult circumstances at home, including poverty, neglect and domestic violence. Parental alcohol abuse was a frequent feature of these reports. Eleven (11) male witnesses reported being absent from school specifically because of learning difficulties and/or severe treatment at school.

Fifty four (54) witnesses, 19 male and 35 female, reported chronic illness and hospitalisation of a parent as the main contributing factor in their admission. Twenty six (26) witnesses reported that their mothers were in psychiatric hospitals and five others reported that their fathers had psychiatric illnesses. Ten (10) witnesses reported that one of their parents had tuberculosis and the remaining parent was unable to cope alone, resulting in the more dependant children being admitted to an Industrial School. Other witnesses reported that both parents had tuberculosis. Mum had TB, my father couldn’t look after us ... he was an alcoholic. I was put in by Court Order ...(with consent of parents).... My sisters joined me, except my eldest sister, she stayed with my Nan.... I have no recollection because I was only 18 months ...(old)... going there. Basically from what my sister told me I know it was 3 or 4 months after me that they came in. All my mam’s family had died of TB, she was the only one that survived, basically she was on her own. I saw my father once, I remember him coming up one Christmas. I didn’t know I had brothers until ...(later years).... • Seven of us went into institutions. The baby she ...(mother)... kept and an older sister as well. The house was examined, it was in very poor circumstance. I have a letter from the sergeant ...displayed copy of correspondence and garda report.... My father had a disability. I remember it ...(admission)... distinctly. I was going in ... I was sitting on my mother’s lap, she left me and she didn’t come back and get me. ... She didn’t visit until I was 5, I didn’t recognise her as my mother. • They brought us to the Court. I remember my father screaming ...distressed... he was a good father. I remember him playing with us, he was a good man, he’d play with me and my sister, he did not want us to go. I remember the love my parents had for me, they were poor and my mother was another religion. Thirty two (32) witnesses, 21 male and 11 female, reported being admitted to a School following family disruption through parental separation, cohabitation or as a result of extra marital relationships. Twenty seven (27) witnesses, 10 male and 17 female, reported that their parents, 20 fathers and seven mothers either were or had also been in prison. Five (5) witnesses, two male and three female, reported being admitted to a School because of familial sexual abuse. Sixty five (65) witnesses, 57 male and eight female, stated that they have not been able to determine the circumstances of their admission to institutional care.

Admission by Court Order

Six hundred and eighty four (684) admissions of 356 male and 314 female witnesses were required by Order of a Court. These included 14 admissions to more than one institution under separate Court Orders. The admissions took place as the result of a Court Order under provisions of the Children Act, 1908, as amended, and the School Attendance Acts, 1926-1967.

The following chart summarises the provisions of the Children Act, 1908, as amended, and the School Attendance Acts, 1926-1967 under which these witnesses were admitted to Industrial and Reformatory Schools.

Source of jurisdiction	Grounds	Number of court orders males	Number of court orders females
Children Act, 1908 section	In need of Care/Protection where the child was under 15 years old (under 14 up to 1942)
58(1)(a)	Found begging or receiving alms	10	22
58(1)(b)	Found not having a home or not having parent/guardian exercising proper guardianship.	141	207
58(1)(c)	Found destitute where parent/s are in prison.	3	7
133(17)	Found destitute being an orphan.	3	3
58(1)(d)	Having a parent/guardian who by reason of reputed criminal or drunken habits is therefore unfit to have care of the child.	15	31
58(1)(h)	Found destitute and parent/s unable to support child.	30	38
Children Act, 1908	Uncontrollable
58(4)	Parent unable to control the child and desires child be sent to Industrial School.	4	1
Children Act, 1908	Offender – Committal to Industrial School
58(2)	Child under 12 charged with offence, where Court decides to send him or her to Industrial rather than Reformatory School.	25	0
58(3)	Child aged between 12 and 14,(13 before 1942), charged with an offence, and not previously convicted, where Court decides to send him or her to Industrial rather than Reformatory School, and he or she will not exercise an evil influence over other children there.	40	1
Children Act, 1908	Offender – Committal to Reformatory School
57(1)	Offender from age 12 up, but less than 17, (16 before 1942), could be sent to Reformatory School.	42	2
School Attendance Acts, 1926-1967	Non-Attendance at School
Section 17(4)	Where parent has used all reasonable efforts to cause child to attend school or is convicted for second time (of failing or neglecting to send a child to school).	55	1
Others3		1	2
Total admissions by Court Order		369	315

The section of legislation under which witnesses were most frequently admitted to the School system was section 58(1)(b) of the Children Act, 1908, under which 141 male admissions (38%) and 207 female admissions (66%) were effected. Section 58(1)(b) of the Act provides for situations where a child is found not having a home or having a parent or guardian not exercising proper guardianship.

There were six witnesses admitted under section 133(17) of the 1908 Act, which specifically provided for the detention of children ‘found destitute, being an orphan’.4

One hundred and eleven (111) admissions (16%) of 107 male and four female witnesses were under sections of the Children Act, 1908 that refer to offenders.Twenty five (25) of these admissions were of witnesses who were charged with offences when they were less than 12 years old and a further 41 were of witnesses who were aged between 12 and 14 years.

Fifty six (56) witnesses, all except one of whom were male, were admitted to the School system under section 17(4) of the School Attendance Act, 1926. This Act and its amendments were applied to children who failed to attend school and were younger than the official school leaving age of 14 years. School Attendance Officers and gardaí generally initiated Court proceedings in these circumstances.

Many witnesses who gave evidence to the Committee reported being angry that the wording of their Court Order appeared to ‘criminalise’ them for reasons such as ‘found not having any home or settled place of abode, or visible means of subsistence, or having a parent or guardian who does not exercise proper guardianship’.5 The absurdity of an infant being charged with ‘receiving alms’ was remarked upon. 6

Age on first admission

The following information refers to what was known regarding witnesses’ age when they were first admitted to any form of care outside their own family. Many witnesses were admitted to Schools from other institutions where they may have resided from birth or early childhood. The age of first admission to out-of-home care for both male and female witnesses is shown in Table 13:

Age at first admission	Males	%	Females	%	Total witnesses	%
0–5 years	133	32	244	65	377	48
6–10 years	119	29	99	26	218	28
11–15 years	144	35	35	9	179	23
16–17 years	17	4	0	0	17	2
Total	413	100	378	100	791	(100)*