logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2025
12m 42s

How hundreds of babies and children ende...

NPR
About this episode
Anna Corrigan grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She thought she was an only child, until she was in her 50s and discovered a family secret. Corrigan found documents showing her mother had spent time in one of Ireland’s so-called mother and baby homes — places where single women went to give birth. And that she had given birth to two sons there. Two brothers that Corrigan never knew she had.

It's part of a sad history in Ireland that is now being unearthed, literally. Scientists believe that nearly 800 babies and children are buried in a mass grave behind one former mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland.

NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports on the work that forensic scientists are now doing to bring those remains to light.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Emma Klein and Michael Levitt. It was edited by William Troop and Nick Spicer. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Jan 19
Trump is rewriting the rules of the economy…is it ‘crony capitalism’?
President Trump has spent his first year back in office blurring the lines between business and government. The administration has bought shares in private companies like Intel, NVIDIA, and others involved in mining and energy. President Trump has also publicly pressured CEOs, an ... Show More
7m 16s
Jan 18
Beth Israel Congregation rebuilds after arson, saying "there's healing that comes"
A week after an arson fire at Mississippi's oldest synagogue, Rachel Myers, a leader of the congregation's religious school, talks about how the congregation is doing and how it will rebuild. It’s not the first time the congregation has been attacked. In the late 1960s, the synag ... Show More
10m 15s
Jan 16
How the Trump Justice Department is targeting his perceived opponents
Under the Trump administration, federal prosecutors have been sent to investigate federal lawmakers, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the widow of Renee Macklin Good.The Department of Justice is once again at the center of the news.At least five federal lawmakers say they ... Show More
10m 19s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 2025
Catherine Corless, Irish historian: I’m going to be a voice for these children
I’m going to be a voice for these childrenChris Page, the BBC’s Ireland correspondent speaks to the Irish historian Catherine Corless, who has changed history in her own country.When she began to research a long-closed mother and baby home near where she lived, she encountered lo ... Show More
22m 59s
Oct 19
The lost children of Tuam - The Sunday Story
<p>The small Irish town of Tuam is home to one of Ireland's most shocking secrets. During the 20th century, thousands of children born out of wedlock were taken from their mothers, branded the 'children of sin' and sent to institutions run by nuns. At St Mary's, it’s claimed 800 ... Show More
36m 24s
Jun 2025
The Vicar of Bray's Daughter
In her early twenties Carol Cairns, the daughter of a priest in Ireland, had a passionate affair with a young bohemian poet called Benedict Ryan. In the Dublin of the 1960s, their improbable partnership burned bright but briefly. Somehow the gap in their backgrounds was too great ... Show More
28m 57s
Aug 2018
The Home Babies
How a grave of 800 infants was found at a former mother and baby home in Ireland. 
17m 2s
Mar 2024
Birthrates Are Plummeting Worldwide. Why?
<p>For a long time, the story about the world’s population was that it was growing too quickly. There were going to be too many humans, not enough resources, and that spelled disaster. But now the script has flipped. Fertility rates have declined dramatically, from about five chi ... Show More
1 h
Apr 2023
Mary Coustas Was 49 When She Became A Mum
Listen to Clare's off mic chat with Mary Coustas here Mary Coustas has graced Australian screens as 'Effie Stephanides' for over 30 years; the big haired, stand out character from Acropolis Now. But behind the scenes, Mary is an open book. And when it comes to speaking about her ... Show More
45m 33s
Sep 2024
The Midwife’s Confession: Eye Investigates
For the last thirty years Indian journalist Amitabh Parashar has been investigating why a group of midwives in his home state of Bihar were routinely forced to kill baby girls. In a series of shocking interviews, the midwives explain what happened and how a remarkable social work ... Show More
51m 10s