Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, Catholic orphanage and maternity home in Tuam, Ireland.
Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home was an orphanage and maternity hospital in Tuam, Ireland. The complex occupied a converted former workhouse and operated from 1925 until 1961 under religious administration.
The facility closed in 1961 after more than three decades of operation. A local historian discovered death certificates for 796 children in 2012 without adequate records of where they were buried.
The institution reflected Ireland's system of institutional care where unmarried mothers performed daily work while residing with their children under religious supervision.
The site is not open to the public and remains under investigation. Forensic and archaeological work continues to identify remains and establish proper records for those who died there.
Excavations in 2017 revealed infant bones in an underground chamber that had originally been built as a sewage tank. The discovery led to a government inquiry and a national report on similar institutions across the country.
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