IRELAND
The Journal
WHEN ACTRESS AND playwright Noelle Brown was 35, she decided to search for her birth family.
Born in Cork’s Bessborough mother and baby home – or mother and baby institution, as she feels it should be called – Brown was adopted when she was eight weeks old. Her adoptive family was always very open about her past. But when she went looking for her own personal documentation in her mid-30s, she hit a brick wall.
Her experiences as an adopted person in Ireland have led to her play Postscript, which looks at the reality for a person like Brown trying to find their birth family in Ireland.
It’s a tale of secrets, lies, identity, and lingering questions.
Brown tells TheJournal.ie that she believes a stigma exists around adoption and mother and baby homes in Ireland which can affect people throughout their lives. She is also highly critical of forthcoming legislation around adoption in Ireland.
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