'As far as we are concerned all our children have been a blessing and a pleasure to us all their lives an there are only one set of total winners in adoption '

'As far as we are concerned all our children have been a blessing and a pleasure to us all their lives an there are only one set of total winners in adoption '

Harry Browne remembers starting a family with his wife which included four children, three of whom they adopted. He describes the experience of adopting children and notes how blessed he and his wife were with their family.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1975

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Harry Browne

Marriage and Family

Life Story

Donnycarney, Dublin

1970's

Paul was born to us on 29th October 1969, the image of his mother with a shock of dark hair. After almost four years with no more children we decided to adopt Sarah Jane. We applied in April 1973 and got her in June. We adopted Robert after waiting three months on 22nd January 1977. It emerged later that we had interview for him on the same day as his birth. Finally following three years delay after applying we got Maeve on 29th January 1982. Adoption got progressively more difficult as the years went on due to the fact that Irish girls were not putting their children up for adoption in such numbers as previously. At the present time it is not possible to adopt an Irish child except in rare cases such as in - family adoptions, hence the popularity of foreign adoption at present. Adopting children presents its set of unique features. People say 'Aren't you great to have adopted three children?' We think it is the total opposite. As far as we are concerned all our children have been a blessing and a pleasure to us all their lives an there are only one set of total winners in adoption. The birth mother loses by giving up her child, the child loses by being cut off from her roots but the adoptive parents gain all round. For this we are eternally grateful. Another interesting feature is that some people appear to regard adopted children as, in some sense, community property and feel free to comment on the kids and offer advice about their rearing in a way that would never occur to them concerning children 'home - made', to use Sheila's phrase. Some relatives were not best pleased and warned us that we should not displace Paul with these interlopers. Happily all our children remain good friends up to the present day. We never made any secret of the fact that the kids were adopted as we thought it was important that they know their circumstances from the earliest days. We had both experience of people who had discovered later in life that they were adopted and the effects on them were catastrophic. Sarah Jane was confronted by a playmate when very small, who told her that she knew a secret about Sarah. Upon being informed that the secret was the fact of her adoption Sarah Jane informed her playmate 'well I was sought out and wanted' When Sarah Jane heard that we intended to adopt a boy she was somewhat dubious as she already had one brother, but she was prepared to give him a chance. However as she grew up and went to school he became a trial to her. She always kept her toys and dolls immaculate and never, in fact, stripped her dolls as other girls did. Robert's arrival threw all this order into confusion as he spread havoc and destruction everywhere. One day on her way out to school she commanded her mother 'have him gone back to the nuns before I come home', she was four years old at the time.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)