A quick google on the word itself unearthed; From debate and conjecture, the name Tusla emerged as a fitting logo for the Child and Family Agency. While the word borrows from the Irish words 'tús' + 'lá', Tusla is a completely new word reflecting a shared desire for a new beginning, forging a new identity. A new word, a new way of working.
The same search also leads you to Trustpilot, the highly regarded review site, wherein the vast majority of its contributors (circa 70) are scathing in the extreme. In cold print the acrimony expressed by individuals on their dealings with TUSLA makes for sober reading, but given the nature of the subject matter, State intervention which can remove children from families, a more studied appraisal of the totality of such an issue is warranted.
There are no perfect families, no Waltons or Simpsons as yardsticks to gauge any semblance of functionality. By and large the average family is a work in progress, trudging along with a sense of solidarity within communities who exist along similar lines.
The Irish Constitution recognises families as follows:
The Family Article 41
1° The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.
2° The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State.
Education Article 42
1 The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.
Given this onerous recognition it should stand to reason that any state body charged with powers to intervene in the functionality of families, with powers to remove children if deemed necessary, must itself be subject to rigorous and transparent scrutiny as it goes about its remit. This book shines a light on that basic necessity, and without straining a metaphor, it reflects very dark shadows indeed.
There are families where grave abuses and violent dysfunctions permeate daily life and children exist with physical and psychological harm and whose only recourse is to outside intervention as an immediate and first step to protect them. Such action requires process, which must be evidenced based and open to transparent scrutiny. What is not required is a presumption of guilt founded on some anachronistic view of women and mothers.
The book is a series of interviews with mothers from various regional, ethnic and economic backgrounds who share their experiences with TULSA and the removal of children from them. Each chapter ends with a link and QR code to a podcast discussion on the issues raised which contribute informatively on their cumulative experiences.
The common threads throughout the interviews are defined by the word patterns. The authors carefully construct a narrative based around these unmistakable patterns that is quite damning of almost every strata of the TULSA process. The inherent bias demonstrated towards these mothers is all the more frightening because it appears inherent in other State bodies, Gardai, the Courts and legal system when it comes to dealing with these cases.
And, what is reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s reaction to their sexual abuse scandals, TUSLA’s apparent primary concern was its own self-preservation and deflection from culpability of the many grievous errors its actions permitted.
The book competently outlines the legacy effects which TULSA’s actions have had on families even when error is eventually conceded and children are returned. Both the nature and the longevity of the separation inflicts indelible damage on family relationships. In a lot of cases male partners can become very vindictive, exploiting to the fullest the unwarranted bias against the mothers wherein children themselves are used as pawns resulting in inevitable psychological harm.
Another damning obstacle is the legal system, a bleak house indeed for affected mothers. TULSA and other relevant agencies have solicitors and barristers appointed to them by the state; for mothers seeking urgent redress this invariably proves cost prohibitive. The book cites the opinion of Justice Frank Clarke who recognised ‘the very real problems with access to justice in Ireland’. But like most public institutions in Ireland, reform comes dropping slowly even when it concerns the reality that whether a mother retains custody of their child comes with an actual price tag.
As an addendum to the failings of the legal system is a truly bizarre and frightening insight into the use of ‘psychologists’ in such cases; findings of ‘unfit mothers’ made by individuals unfit to reach such damning conclusions in the first place. Citing a Prime Time undercover investigation one of their reporters obtained an online doctorate from America for the ‘price of a take away’. Armed with a dubious certificate and a brass plaque such individuals are free to offer ‘professional’ opinions on sometimes complex family situations. An unhealthy weight is afforded to these psychological reports in family cases which is astounding when one considers the book's expose of the absence of any regulation for psychologists in Ireland.
The same search also leads you to Trustpilot, the highly regarded review site, wherein the vast majority of its contributors (circa 70) are scathing in the extreme. In cold print the acrimony expressed by individuals on their dealings with TUSLA makes for sober reading, but given the nature of the subject matter, State intervention which can remove children from families, a more studied appraisal of the totality of such an issue is warranted.
There are no perfect families, no Waltons or Simpsons as yardsticks to gauge any semblance of functionality. By and large the average family is a work in progress, trudging along with a sense of solidarity within communities who exist along similar lines.
The Irish Constitution recognises families as follows:
The Family Article 41
1° The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.
2° The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State.
Education Article 42
1 The State acknowledges that the primary and natural educator of the child is the Family and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.
Given this onerous recognition it should stand to reason that any state body charged with powers to intervene in the functionality of families, with powers to remove children if deemed necessary, must itself be subject to rigorous and transparent scrutiny as it goes about its remit. This book shines a light on that basic necessity, and without straining a metaphor, it reflects very dark shadows indeed.
There are families where grave abuses and violent dysfunctions permeate daily life and children exist with physical and psychological harm and whose only recourse is to outside intervention as an immediate and first step to protect them. Such action requires process, which must be evidenced based and open to transparent scrutiny. What is not required is a presumption of guilt founded on some anachronistic view of women and mothers.
The book is a series of interviews with mothers from various regional, ethnic and economic backgrounds who share their experiences with TULSA and the removal of children from them. Each chapter ends with a link and QR code to a podcast discussion on the issues raised which contribute informatively on their cumulative experiences.
The common threads throughout the interviews are defined by the word patterns. The authors carefully construct a narrative based around these unmistakable patterns that is quite damning of almost every strata of the TULSA process. The inherent bias demonstrated towards these mothers is all the more frightening because it appears inherent in other State bodies, Gardai, the Courts and legal system when it comes to dealing with these cases.
And, what is reminiscent of the Catholic Church’s reaction to their sexual abuse scandals, TUSLA’s apparent primary concern was its own self-preservation and deflection from culpability of the many grievous errors its actions permitted.
The book competently outlines the legacy effects which TULSA’s actions have had on families even when error is eventually conceded and children are returned. Both the nature and the longevity of the separation inflicts indelible damage on family relationships. In a lot of cases male partners can become very vindictive, exploiting to the fullest the unwarranted bias against the mothers wherein children themselves are used as pawns resulting in inevitable psychological harm.
Another damning obstacle is the legal system, a bleak house indeed for affected mothers. TULSA and other relevant agencies have solicitors and barristers appointed to them by the state; for mothers seeking urgent redress this invariably proves cost prohibitive. The book cites the opinion of Justice Frank Clarke who recognised ‘the very real problems with access to justice in Ireland’. But like most public institutions in Ireland, reform comes dropping slowly even when it concerns the reality that whether a mother retains custody of their child comes with an actual price tag.
As an addendum to the failings of the legal system is a truly bizarre and frightening insight into the use of ‘psychologists’ in such cases; findings of ‘unfit mothers’ made by individuals unfit to reach such damning conclusions in the first place. Citing a Prime Time undercover investigation one of their reporters obtained an online doctorate from America for the ‘price of a take away’. Armed with a dubious certificate and a brass plaque such individuals are free to offer ‘professional’ opinions on sometimes complex family situations. An unhealthy weight is afforded to these psychological reports in family cases which is astounding when one considers the book's expose of the absence of any regulation for psychologists in Ireland.
The in-camera rule is one of the most powerful forces shaping the lives of mothers who find themselves trapped in the family law system. It determines what can be said, who can speak, what can be challenged, what can be exposed and what must remain hidden from the public.
This opening paragraph of one of the concluding chapters, for me, cuts to the chase; this is Catholic Ireland and its legacy. The complete absence of accountability and transparency being a natural recipe for corruption and abuse.
But worse than the abuses committed are the denials and deflections that any such abuses and dangerous shortcomings actually occurred. It is a vicious self-preserving circle that bequeaths a mindset institutionalised and furtive thinking. It has infested various institutions including the courts, the gardai, state institutions like TULSA and aspects of the medical profession charged with responsibilities in this area of family law.
But worse than the abuses committed are the denials and deflections that any such abuses and dangerous shortcomings actually occurred. It is a vicious self-preserving circle that bequeaths a mindset institutionalised and furtive thinking. It has infested various institutions including the courts, the gardai, state institutions like TULSA and aspects of the medical profession charged with responsibilities in this area of family law.
For this reviewer the core value of the book is demonstrating the immense chasm between the laudable constitutional recognitions and protections alluded to earlier and those institutions and bodies charged with their implementation and defence. The book’s strength are the testimonies of individual mothers who were so egregiously victimised by a State obliged to protect them. A highly recommended read!
Dr Finbar Markey & Anna Kavanagh MA, 2026. Justice For Birth Mothers: The Fight Against Forced Separation In Modern Ireland. Butterfly Books Publishers Ireland. ISBN-13: 978-9699896217
Dr Finbar Markey & Anna Kavanagh MA, 2026. Justice For Birth Mothers: The Fight Against Forced Separation In Modern Ireland. Butterfly Books Publishers Ireland. ISBN-13: 978-9699896217
⏩ The Fenian Way was a full time activist during the IRA's war against the British.
