During the summer of 2014 reports that a ‘septic tank grave’ containing ‘skeletons of 800 babies’ had been discovered on the site of a former home for ‘unmarried mothers’ in Tuam, County Galway appeared in the international press and social media. Doubts quickly began to surface around the assertion that the remains of children had, in fact, been ‘dumped’ in a ‘septic tank, but it is still important that responses to ‘unmarried mothers’ and their children are subject to contemporary scrutiny because substantial concerns clearly warrant investigation. In June 2014 the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in the Irish coalition government, announced the setting up of an inquiry.

Acknowledging the significance of historical and archival research for social work, the article provides a more expansive contextual account than that featured in the media coverage. The main focus is on policy and practice in relation to ‘unmarried mothers’ in the early years of the state and the establishment of quasi-penal Mother and Baby Homes. The lack of legal child adoption also restricted the meaningful choices available to expectant, unwed women in Ireland. Many, known to social workers as P.F.I.s (‘pregnant from Ireland’), decided to flee to England to give birth and have children placed for adoption. Drawing on the annual reports of the Catholic Protection and Rescue Society of Ireland, it is revealed that these women often faced being ‘repatriated’ back to Ireland.

The discussion serves to emphasise the vital significance of social history in comprehending ways of working with ‘troublesome’ populations.