Letter from Hugh McCann to Frederick H. Boland (Dublin)

Further to our minute of 23rd May, 1950 (your ref. 345/96)¹ regarding the adoption of Irish children by foreigners, I have the honour to report as follows:-

At the suggestion of the State Department arising out of our informal approaches to them during May, Mr. Holmes made an appointment with Miss I. Evelyn Smith, Consultant on Foster Care in the Children's Bureau of the Federal Security Agency. The Children's Bureau was established in 1909 and is the Federal Authority responsible for co-ordinating Child Welfare Services in the various States on behalf of the Social Security Administration. There are about ten regional branches throughout the United States, each serving the needs of from four to six States. The Board of Public Welfare, to which reference is made in our minute of 23rd May, is the Welfare Authority for the District of Columbia alone.

Mr. Holmes' interview with Miss Smith took place on 13th June. She had already been informed of the general nature of the problem by the State Department and she expressed the view that the Children's Bureau would be able and willing to afford us every assistance in investigating candidates wishing to adopt children, and making reports on all the relevant aspects including that of religious background. To this end she referred us to a list of State Agencies administering Child Welfare Services to whom enquiries should be addressed. She also provided us with copies of pamphlets, literature and legislative documents dealing with adoption, copies of which we are sending herewith.

Miss Smith also stated that she had received enquiries from some State Agencies asking for information about organisations in Ireland which might be contacted in seeking children for adoption. One of these came from the State of California and she had written to a Mr. B.E. Astbury, the General Secretary of the Family Welfare Association, Denison House, 296 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, S.W.1., for information. His reply, which she showed Mr. Holmes, stated that a suitable agent to contact in 'Northern Ireland' was Mr. F. McIllreavy, J.P., Belfast Council of Social Welfare Inc., Bryson House, 28 Bedford Street, and that a suitable agent in 'Southern Ireland or as they prefer to call themselves Éire' was Miss Gavan Duffy of the Catholic Social Welfare Bureau, 18 Westland Row, Dublin. She requested us to let her have the names of any other agencies which might be of assistance in this matter. We should be glad if you would be so good as to indicate the nature of the reply we should give to this enquiry.

On the 2nd June Father Brown, Assistant Secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Charities, called at the Embassy. He said that an international conference is being held next September in the Vatican to consider the whole question of adoption, particularly in its international aspects. Three delegates from America will be attending this conference. They are Monsignor John O'Grady, the Secretary of N.C.C.C., Monsignor Edward Swanstrom, the Executive Director of Bishops' War Relief, and Monsignor Vincent Cooke, Director of Charities in the Archdiocese of Chicago. They will be passing through Dublin on Saturday, the 26th August and Sunday, the 27th August, with the object of having preliminary discussions on the matter of international adoption in Ireland. Father Brown again visited the Embassy on the 23rd June and suggested that it might be most satisfactory for all parties concerned if the Department of External Affairs were to arrange a conference in Dublin on these dates, to which the American representatives could be invited. He suggested that such a conference should include all the Irish bishops or their representatives, as well as representatives of the charitable organisations concerned. His object in suggesting that the invitations to the conference be issued through the Department of External Affairs appeared to be two-fold:-

1. The desirability of not creating the impression that any proposals which might be arrived at in regard to international adoption were exclusively Catholic in origin (Fr. Brown said in this connection that they would wish any interested non-Catholic parties to attend such a conference).
2. The delicate ecclesiastical position as to whether approaches for the convening of such a conference should be made to the Archbishop of Dublin or the Archbishop of Armagh.

Fr. Brown is sending us a summary of matters which he would wish to see included on the agenda of such a conference. They comprise three main headings:-

1. The urgent need for comprehensive action in the matter of international adoption.
2. The organisations in existence for undertaking the necessary enquiries.
3. The provision of safeguards and periodic checks after adoption in regard to such matter as general well-being, religion, health and so on.

These documents will be forwarded in due course.

We should be glad if you would be so good as to inform us as soon as possible of the Department's attitude towards these suggestions of the National Conference of Catholic Charities.