Truth Recovery Independent Panel seeking Termonbacca, Nazareth House and Good Shepherd laundry testimony in Derry next month
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00:00My name is Paul McClary and I am one of three victim and survivor representatives on the
00:10Trust Recovery Independent Panel.
00:17My mother was 18 years old when she was in the Mother and Baby Institution and I was
00:23born.
00:25I was taken away from her when I was 18 days old and then I was in the care system in the
00:30children's home for a year and three months.
00:34I was then boarded out with a view to adoption and finally adopted when I was six and a half
00:40years old.
00:41This has been a lifelong journey for me trying to find out information and unfortunately
00:48my mother passed away when she was 29 years old and I will never see her again.
00:55The feelings and emotions of abandonment have shaped my life and remained with me and this
01:02has just been such a difficult journey and I know that many other people watching this
01:06will experience the same emotions and feelings that I've experienced throughout my life.
01:18As a victim and survivor quite often we would say there should be nothing about us without
01:24us and I firmly believe it's important in the trust recovery process that victims and
01:30survivors and representatives are front and centre of a trust recovery process.
01:41I know from personal experience that recalling your lived experiences, it's difficult.
01:47Even though these events happened many years ago, they have stayed with us throughout our
01:54lives and it's really difficult to recall those.
01:58For some people recalling or bringing those events back is sadly too difficult, they've
02:05suppressed them, they've put them in a place so they don't have to deal with them but for
02:10anyone who has the strength to come forward I would really encourage them to do so.
02:17My mother was a student nurse in Northern Ireland in 1969 when she discovered she was
02:30pregnant with me.
02:32She was from a Catholic family and in a relationship with my father who was Protestant.
02:36The parish priest was responsible for her placement in Marianville Mother and Baby
02:40Institution which was run by the Good Shepherd Sisters on the Omer Road in Belfast.
02:45She was there under an imposed name for four months until I was born.
02:50My adoption appears to have been arranged before my birth and I was removed from my
02:53mother at ten days old and placed with my future adoptive parents.
02:58My mother was only told I'd gone to a better family and that she was to forget about me
03:02and she would never have the right to see me again or search for me in the future.
03:10Having three victim-survivor representatives on the panel with experience of institutionalisation,
03:16human rights violations, the adoption and fostering systems and therefore forced family
03:21separation ensures that the panel's work is always centred towards those that are affected.
03:27Many people have reached out to us individually because we have had similar experiences to
03:32them and also similar long-term impacts.
03:36Therefore we are well placed to relate to others' experiences and their feelings and
03:39their needs.
03:44It's important for people to have the opportunity to share their experiences and for them to
03:48have a voice.
03:49Giving testimony is powerful for many reasons, to give a full picture of what happened to
03:53people within the institutions, to gain a better understanding of the pathways that
03:57were used and the practices employed by the institutions, religious orders, adoption agencies
04:03and organisations, medical professionals and overarching them all, the state.
04:09Those findings will come from the testimony of those affected and will help the work of
04:13the independent panel and subsequently then guide the public inquiry.
04:18Even the smallest amount of information can help uncover the truth.
04:25I would say it's your choice.
04:28This is the chance to have on record what happened and for many of us where choice was
04:32part of the problem in our experiences, it is crucial that we are able to give testimony
04:37in whatever form we choose, whether that is oral testimony or written testimony.
04:42Regardless of how we give testimony, the independent panel will ensure that all victims and survivors
04:47are treated with the utmost sensitivity, care and respect.
04:52This is the opportunity for people to tell their story in full, however they like, without
04:56being questioned or challenged.
04:59So many people are living in the shadow of shame and guilt and it is not theirs to carry.