Mum devastated to learn her daughter had been SWAPPED with another baby 50 years ago
A MUM has recalled the devastating moment she discovered that her daughter, 51, had been swapped at birth, and was not her biological child.
Helen Maguire, 71, of Tipperary, handed her newborn baby to a group of Catholic nuns who ran the St Patrick’s Guild adoption society in the 1960s.
She brought up Christine Skipsey, 52, as her daughter but a DNA test last year proved she wasn’t Helen’s biological child.
She has gone on to report the case to the police as kidnapping.
Helen now intends to apologise to her biological daughter as well as Christine.
She told : “I am going to apologise to her and tell her it wasn't my fault, that I was told when I collected my daughter that she was my daughter and that was it.
"You're brought up with your religion, and I believed them. And I just feel sorry for the girl as well and I am going to apologise to her, I've apologised to Christine.
"Christine's life has been turned upside down. It is something I have got to live with now for the rest of my life."
She went on to say that as "far as she was concerned Christine will always be her daughter" and she "loves her to bits."
Christine's life has been turned upside down. It is something I have got to live with now for the rest of my life
Helen Maguire
COMPLAINED TO THE POLICE
Ms Maguire made a formal complaint to the police in Mullingar a number of months ago, according to the newspaper.
The probe made little progress but Irish family agency Tulsa believe they may have identified a woman - they believe could be Helen’s birth daughter.
The agency has reportedly put measures in place for the pair to meet in the future.
Ms Maguire gave birth to her daughter when she was 18-years-old in London in November 1966 where she had to keep the birth a secret.
When she returned to Ireland to visit family in December she needed somewhere to place the baby for safekeeping.
She claimed Fr Michael Cleary, a chaplain to the Irish community in London, suggested St Patrick’s Guild in Blackrock in Dublin.
INITIAL SUSPICIONS
The nuns presented Ms Maguire with adoptions papers which she refused to sign.
She admitted Christine to the nunnery on December 3, 1996 where she paid £21 for her board, including the hand written note explaining her intent to keep the baby.
She returned six weeks later to collect her daughter and immediately felt that something wasn't right.
After initial suspicions about the baby’s hair colour, the nuns reassured her that all babies were born with dark hair, and she said that "like an idiot" she believed them.
She then returned to London with the baby where she later married a co-worker and went on to have three more children, two boys and a girl.
She eventually divorced her first husband moving back to Ireland with her second husband David.
It is believed that criminal proceedings are highly unlikely because the majority of the nuns who ran the guild are believed to have died.
Ms Maguire’s birth daughter is understood to have been adopted by a couple in Dublin but it remains unclear if the mix-up was deliberate or a mistake.
The ex-adoption society is expected to face a number of lawsuits over false birth registrations.
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone said at least 126 babies that were adopted from St Patrick’s were incorrectly registered to be the biological children of their adoptive parents.
The number has since soared to 148 and affects people born between 1946 and 1969.
In other real life news, a woman has revealed how she believed her dad had died of a heart attack, only to discover nine years later it was hospital neglect.
And last week, we spoke to the mum of a woman who was set on fire by her ex – and testified at his murder trial from beyond the grave.