AN IRISH WOMAN who was sold to a US family as an infant from a mother and baby home is now making a desperate attempt to track down her mother before it’s too late.
Kathleen Sullivan, now 63 years old and living in Ohio, was born in 1954 in one of Ireland’s largest mother and baby homes, St Patrick’s on the Navan Road, Dublin.
She was adopted by a family in the US at 15 months old for a fee of $10,000 and was taken from the mother and baby home, despite having severe physical and emotional problems, and put on an Aer Lingus flight to the States.
Kathleen was one of eleven Irish children sold by the nuns who were on that flight to the US. Unbeknownst to the infant, it was a one-way journey.
Documents uncovered since reveal that prior to Kathleen being sold to her new parents, she underwent a series of examinations, which included an IQ test and doctor's reports regarding her physical appearance and the state of her mental health.
Aer Lingus flight passenger list. (Picture: Dennis McKenney)Now, Kathleen and her son Dennis McKenney are desperately trying to reunite the family and establish what happened to her mother.
So far, they have found out that Kathleen’s mother was named Mary Sullivan and was born February 15th, 1933 in Carlow. She may have gone by the name Maureen and is believed to have married a man with the surname Brennan.
Recently, Dennis had a breakthrough.
He got in touch with a woman named Clodagh Malone of Irish organisation Beyond Adoption. Dennis sent the documents his mother had kept over the many years and Clodagh promised him that she would find his family.
Kathleen's passport photograph. (Picture: Dennis McKenney)Clodagh went to the parish priest of Mary’s Carlow village. The priest was reluctant to give any information and insisted that he knew of nobody by the name of either Mary or Maureen Sullivan.
Clodagh went home and decided to search on her own. Eventually, after searching for people named Maureen and Mary O' Sullivan, she contacted a lady living in Carlow by the name of Maureen Sullivan, who turned out to Kathleen's first cousin.
Maureen told Clodagh that as far as her family was concerned, the last time anyone had seen or spoken to Kathleen's mother Mary was when she was living in Battersea, London in 1973.
Since then, there has been nothing.
Clodagh was able to put Maureen on the phone with Dennis, who described the call as ‘overwhelming’.
Maureen Sullivan. (Picture: Dennis McKenney)“Maureen told me that Mary was left with a broken heart after being forced to give her daughter (Kathleen) to the home," he said.
"She said that she always felt that she had ‘thrown her daughter away’. It was very emotional.
“I then took the phone to my mother, who was speaking to her cousin for the first time.
"It was incredible to watch. They immediately clicked. They were laughing together and Maureen was sharing details of what Mary looked like.”
After the phone call, Maureen sent images of some of her family members, including herself, to Dennis and Kathleen.
“I couldn’t believe the immediate resemblance,” Dennis said.
“Maureen looks so much like my mum, while Maureen’s son Jamie has an uncanny resemblance to my brother Kevin.
Maureen's son Jamie (left) and Kathleen's son Kevin (right)“We had submitted a DNA test at that stage, but we were joking with each other that we didn’t need the results. The images were that powerful.”
The DNA results did come back and proved what Dennis suspected. Maureen was confirmed as his second cousin, making her Kathleen’s first cousin.
They were now reunited with their Irish family.
However, Kathleen is still yearning for closure with regards to her mother Mary, from whom she was taken at birth.
Recent picture of Kathleen Sullivan. (Picture: Dennis McKenney)To this day, she is still left with severe physical and emotional problems from her time spent in the mother and baby home.
Kathleen’s childhood was marred by a lack of identity and an adopted family which Dennis described as “non-loving”.
She struggled for most of her life with her parent’s lack of love for her. On her father’s deathbed, Kathleen asked him if he ever really wanted her. He replied: “no I didn’t”.
While the search continues for Kathleen's mother, Dennis and Kathleen can take solace in the fact that they are now joined in their quest by their long-lost Irish family. Dennis revealed that he calls Maureen every week to chat about any progress and general family affairs and that alone is a success story in itself.
Anyone who may have information regarding this story can contact the author at [email protected].
See More: Ireland, United States
