The Truth Recovery Independent Panel has published its report into Northern Ireland’s mother-and-baby institutions, a 1,200-page document containing testimonies and historical evidence.

One written account describes an Omagh-born woman who was prevented from attending her birth mother’s funeral. The woman was born in the early 1950s at Gortmore Nursing Home and placed for adoption after a GP informed her adoptive family that a baby was available.

Her birth mother refused all contact thereafter. When the woman later attempted to attend the funeral, the birth mother’s relatives moved to block her.

The testimony was submitted by a family member who said she hoped sharing the story would help society understand the harm caused by secrecy and rejection.

The report also records that 40 illegitimate births were registered in the Omagh Union during 1945.

Researchers examined files of a welfare official from Omagh Social Welfare, referred to as ‘Miss 8’, who appears in the records of 13 women between 1955 and 1960. The documents show her repeatedly arranging for women to be sent to the Good Shepherd institutions in Newry.

In one instance from 1957, a woman arrived with instructions that she was to stay at the Newry home for six months. Another woman brought by Miss 8 later decided against going, while a third case notes the official’s insistence that a woman should go to Newry with her baby; the woman instead entered Mater Dei.

The panel draws no personal criticism of the official but uses the records to illustrate how local welfare services fed into the wider institutional network.

Omagh Courthouse currently holds 1,578 adoption files dating from 1931 to 1955. The Western Health and Social Care Trust has since funded improvements to the storage of these historic records after recommendations from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.