‘Unforgivable trauma’: Derry man speaks out on Mother and Baby Homes scandal

Billy Scampton was born in Marianvale in Newry, County Down, in the 1960s and was, then, adopted from the Nazareth House in Donegal in 1962.

He was in Belfast earlier this week where an expert panel called for a public inquiry to be held into institutions for unmarried mothers in Northern Ireland.

The primary recommendation in their report is to establish an “integrated investigation” by a non-statutory independent panel, feeding into a statutory public inquiry.

Mr Scampton hailed the work of the panel as “beyond words” and “outstanding”.

Speaking of his own personal circumstances, he said: “I am blessed that my adoptive parents, Ben and Vera, and my family were very special and made me who I am today; others have an alternative narrative which I recognise also.

“But what we all share, good or bad, is the unforgivable trauma our birth mothers were subjected to by those who should have cared for them most, when they needed that care most. Instead, the most vulnerable of the vulnerable were singled out, cast out and stigmatised to live a life of shame for bringing that most beautiful of all God’s creations into the world - a little baby. Nor were they given the chance to love and care for the child they had carried within them for nine months, the baby taken from them shortly after birth, with many never to see that baby again, because they were deemed to be a threat to society, not good enough to be called a mother by society’s so called ‘moral guardians’.”

Mr Scampton said the panel “have done the birth mothers, girls and babies justice. I can only hope our politicians do the same.”