The Missing Children
The scandal of Ireland’s mother and baby homes made headline news in January 2021 when the final report from the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation was released. The report concluded that approximately 9,000 children died in 18 institutions under investigation, and the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Mícheál Martin apologised in parliament and described the events as a "dark, difficult and shameful chapter" of Irish history.
The Missing Children is the definitive film about the scandal of Ireland’s Missing Children – neglected, discarded or trafficked? At the Tuam mother and baby home in Ireland, 796 children, born to unwed mothers have disappeared. The bodies of some have been found in a sewage tank, but are they all there or were some adopted illegally. We follow relatives, survivors and adoptees to uncover the truth about what happened behind the closed doors of Ireland’s most notorious mother and baby home: from the discovery of 796 death certificates, to the stories of families and survivors, exposing the truth about the treatment of children, the marketing and sale of babies, and shocking revelations about seemingly falsified documents – ultimately exposing a network accused of exploiting children on both sides of the Atlantic.
Relatives and survivors in Ireland, the US and the UK want access to the files that have so far been kept secret. They want the babies’ remains exhumed and their DNA used to identify each child.
They are also using their own DNA to uncover family secrets. Some may discover that their relatives are in fact among the babies in the septic tank. Others will be reunited with family they never knew they had, through journeys that are moving and heart-warming.
RUNTIME:
90 Minutes
PRODUCER:
Rachel Cumella
DIRECTOR:
Tanya Stephan
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:
Brian Woods
Anne Morrison
RELEASED:
2021
The Missing Children is a True Vision/Nevision co-production
Awards
Specialist Factual - Winner
BAFTA Television Awards 2022
Current Affairs International - Winner
RTS Television Journalism Awards 2022
Best History Documentary
The Grierson Awards 2022
TV Documentary - Nominee
Prix Italia 2022
Best Documentary - Shortlist
Rose d’Or Awards 2022
Foreign Affairs Journalism - Nominee
British Journalism Awards
Reviews
“The Missing Children is a study of pure cruelty to make your blood boil”
Pat Stacey - Irish Independent
“this jaw-dropping revelatory documentary will not be easily forgotten”
John Dugdale - Sunday Times
"Outrage feels like the only appropriate response to Tanya Stephan’s commandingly thorough chronicling of the mother-and-baby homes scandal"
Ed Power - Irish Times
“Archaeologists plead for urgent Tuam home excavation”
Sonja Tutty - The Times
“This moving documentary isn’t always easy to watch due to its distressing subject matter”
Sunday People
“EXCAVATION CALL ‘I want to know if my sister was sold off or in the septic tank’, Tuam baby home survivor says”
Nicola Bardon - The Irish Sun
“Husband of Irish mother and baby home survivor says Church was like secret service”
Sylvia Pownall - Irish Mirror
“Catherine Corless honoured by Red Cross for her work on Tuam babies”
Ronan McGreevy - The Irish Times
“'Four years on and still no action': Call for Tuam mother and baby home site to be excavated”
Órla Ryan - The Journal
“‘significant quantities’ of bones were found in the disused septic tank but “exact figures are not possible to say”. The bones were of children aged from 35 foetal weeks to four to six years old.”
Alan O'Keeffe - Irish Independent
“The records need to be opened up, it’s in the past, it’s an opportunity for us to be able to heal. I would love to know my mother’s medical records, what she went through, what her time was like in Tuam.”
Sarah Burns - The Irish Times
“At the notorious institution, which was run by the Bon Secours nuns, 796 children born to unwed mothers have disappeared. The bodies of some have been found in a sewage tank.”
Chloe Morgan - Mail Online
“The documentary tells the story of the 796 babies who died at the Tuam mother and baby home whose names were uncovered by local historian Catherine Corless in 2012.”
Shane O’Brien - Irish Central
'Four years on and still no action'
Órla Ryan - The Journal
“CRUEL nuns buried dead children in a sewage tank and stole babies from their mothers and sold them off to rich American families.”
Eugene Masterson - Sunday World
“Extraordinary and moving stories of some of the children who survived life at Tuam mother and baby home in Ireland”
Caroline Delaney - Irish Examiner
“it gives voice to some of the survivors of Tuam home and allows them to tell their own stories from this dark era of modern Irish history.”
Kevin Courtney - Irish Times
“TD questions why mass grave of 796 babies at Tuam has still not been excavated four years after it was revealed”
Senan Molony - Irish Independent
“Archaeologist who led initial dig tells concern over four-year wait to resume excavation”
Nicola Byrne - Irish Mail on Sunday
“Moving documentary shedding light on the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam”
Sunday Independent
“Scandal of forced adoptions is revealed” “American families paid nuns thousands”
Irish Sunday Mirror
“Stories of people who survived Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway.”
Sunday World TV Highlight
