Fact Sheet #22: OUT OF WEDLOCK

The Christian Church ran 80% of Unmarried Mothers Homes in Britain; residential Matrons or Superintendents, Housekeepers, and Nurses staffed them. Moral Welfare Workers and clergymen frequented them. It was their responsibility to ensure and protect the welfare, health and safety of the single pregnant girls and unmarried mothers who stayed in the Homes.

• The Homes did not organise classes or talks on childbirth:
  even though the facilities and expertise were readily and freely available even though a majority of unmarried pregnant girls knew nothing about the birth process.
• The Homes did not organise classes or talks on baby care or mother craft: even though the expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though 97.5% of unmarried mothers wanted to keep their babies.
• The Homes did not organise talks on unmarried mothers right to State Benefits: even though the expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though unmarried mothers had been entitled to State Benefits since 1948.
• The Homes did not organise talks on the alternatives to adoption: even though the expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though the Law required unmarried mothers to be informed of the alternatives.
• The Homes did not organise talks on rent and rate free housing available for mother and baby: even though the expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though unmarried mothers desperately needed accommodation so they could keep their babies.
• The Homes did not organise talks on the rights and entitlements of unmarried mothers under 16: even though the expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though unmarried mothers under 16 were legally entitled to keep their babies.
• The Homes did not provide the necessary dietry requirements for expectant and nursing mothers: even though comprehensive dietry guidelines were readily and freely available even though the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child supplied them.
• The Homes did not inform unmarried mothers of the date of their post-natal examination: even though the medical expertise and facilities were readily and freely available even though this risked serious medical repercussions and 35.7% suffered secondary infertility.
• The Homes did not provide basic sanitary facilities: even though the expertise and guidelines were readily and freely available even though 25 pregnant and newly delivered mothers had to share one toilet and one bath.
• The Homes did not inform unmarried mothers about the Thomas Coram Foundation: even though the information was readily and freely available even though the Coram was renowned for enabling unmarried mothers to keep their babies.

For hundreds of thousands of unmarried mothers the short-term effects were traumatic, the long-term repercussions were catastrophic, and for some they were fatal.

Copyright © Patricia Basquill, 2002 - 2008