Who Are Renewing Roots?
Renewing Roots programme is about people. It is about people who were exploited, incarcerated, who were silenced and ignored. It is about empowering people and engaging on an individual and community level.
The programme is about putting former residents and their families at the heart of what we do.
To this end, we engage a flexible approach that aims to advise, advocate and publicise.
Engagement means meeting former residents and their families to establish what support that they require, be it access to personal information held by the Irish state or institutions, counselling and the Payment Scheme.
Establishing the support that is required is vital for the service to work. People who come to us should feel heard and understood. It is through building relationships and trust, and by acknowledging their experiences, that real support happens.
And that requires flexibility. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach. Support is tailored to each and every individual who comes through our door. Some people wish to discuss their experiences in the institution and how this impacted them. Some people want to complete an application and not be put in a position where they have to open long closed wounds.
Fréa Renewing Roots have been supporting former residents of Mother and Baby and County Homes as well as other institutions who are now living in the north of England, since 2022. In October 2023 we expanded our team to welcome Natalie Hughes Crean and Ciaran Connolly in order to meet the needs of former residents of Ireland’s Mother and Baby and County institutions who now live in the north of England.
What we do....
We have been providing free and confidential support on inquiries, such as accessing the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme, obtaining records held by institutions, accessing counselling. Our support is delivered by specialist staff in a trauma informed manner.
We deliver trauma informed support in a manner that fits in best with the needs of the people whom we work with, be it in our offices, in a community setting or via home visits. These are delivered on a one-to-one basis or alongside a family member if the person wishes to have further emotional or practical support.
When we assist someone to make an application, we follow this up until they receive a decision, be it on the Payment Scheme or trying to trace their records. This follow up is done either on the phone or via a pre-planned appointment. Our staff are experienced in making applications to the different components of the Irish Government Action Plan for Survivors of Institutions.
We sit down and discuss any correspondence that applicants receive from Ireland and explain how each different aspect of the Action Plan works. Where requested we have helped people complete forms and submit documentation. All staff are authorised signatories of identification documents for the Mother and Baby Institution Payment Scheme.
Art for Wellbeing
Since January 2025 we have been running a community group with survivors of institutions, that is now called Arts for Wellbeing. This incorporates Arts Based Methods as a way of engaging people on an enjoyable and creative basis. The group meets once a month at venues across the north of England and has so far delivered sessions undertaking clay making workshops facilitated by Olivia Rowan and creative writing facilitated by Aoibh Johnson. The group brings people together in a safe setting that allows for the growing friendships through common experiences. However while experience of an institution or the effect that the institution has had on a loved one is shared – the group chats and laughs about a wide range of topics and interests. The feedback that attendees give show what a positive impact the group has.
Government Lobbying
We also have been active on lobbying on the rights of former residents of Ireland’s institutions. Those who passed through institutions in Ireland and felt that they had to emigrate face different challenges. Included in this the fact that people who receive payments from the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme may have their Means Tested Benefits affected. We have worked with Irish in Britain to raise this issue with both the British and Irish Governments. We are continuing with this lobbying to try to ensure that people who have been incarcerated in Ireland’s Mother and Baby and County institutions are not adversely affected by receiving a payment based being incarcerated for having a child outside wedlock or being born to an unmarried mother.
We have raised issues with the both the Department of Children, Equalities, Disability, Integration and Youth and RelateCare (who administer the application process) about the application process. For example the acceptable photo identification for the Payment Scheme was only passports and driving licences. We knew from our work that many people did not have either of these. Working alongside the DCEDIY it was agreed that identification requirements could be reviewed in order to make the identification reflect the situation of people living outside the Republic of Ireland.
Working alongside the Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse
We have also been busy engaging with Patricia Carey the Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse and her team. Patricia’s role involves consulting former residents of institutions and representing their concerns to the Irish Government. Patricia has come over to Manchester and met with survivors and their family members from across the north of England as well as Fréa Renewing Roots staff England at the Irish World Heritage Centre. This gave an insight into the experiences of people who were incarcerated in Ireland’s Mother and Baby and County institutions and who left the state.
At the heart of what we do is the people who went through institutions and to ensure that their voices are heard and that we listen. In January 2024 Fréa Renewing Roots staff met with former residents of institutions to discuss our names, the language that we use (for example former resident rather than survivors) was fully informed by these conversations.
Further, when the Special Advocate asked for former residents’ opinion on what should go into the upcoming National Centre for Research and Remembrance we were able to ring people who have engaged in our service so that their views could be gathered and fed back to the Centre’s steering group. This consultation was to ensure that people who could not attend the initial event in Dublin could still contribute to the development of the centre.
In addition to this we were also able to ask people whom we have accessed Fréa Renewing Roots about how their experiences in submitting online applications to the Payment Scheme. The responses to these questions were reported to the DCEDIY in order that they had access to the experiences of people submitting these applications.
Fréa Renewing Roots have been extremely active in publicising access to the different strands of the Irish Government Action Plan for Survivors and Former Residents of Mother and Baby and County Institutions. In order to achieve this we have organised and delivered information evenings in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle.
Survivors Support Services Partnership
We have also been busy working alongside professionals who deliver support services for the Irish community in Britain. In June, alongside our colleagues at the London Irish Centre and Coventry Irish Society, we delivered an information session to Irish support and advice agencies on the background to the Mother and Baby Institution Payment Scheme, support available as well as information on the impact that these may have on people in receipt of Means Tested Benefits. This gave advice workers an insight into how the scheme works and enabled them to give up to date advice to applicants.
The organisations meet once every quarter, to share experiences on making applications for records, to the payment scheme or on other aspects of the Irish Government Action Plan for Survivors of Mother and Baby and County Institutions. These forums allow for building best practice, as well as getting new ideas on developing support.
Commemoration and education
Fréa Renewing Roots has staged 3 separate screenings of the film Stolen at Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds (April 2024) and The Bluecoat in Liverpool (November 2024) and at Stretford Public Hall Manchester (July 2025). The purpose of this was to commemorate those who had passed through the Mother and Baby and County institutions. It also has the purpose of informing a wider audience on what happened in the institutions and the effect that they had on people who lived in them.
Stolen’s director Margo Harkin was supportive of these screenings, taking part in a pre-recorded Questions and Answer session, with Natalie. Margo joined us for the screening and took part in an audience Q&A. At this she was joined by Patricia Carey, Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse.
Feedback from the audience at the screenings showed that people were engaged in both the film and information from the Q&A.
The Liverpool screening was part of the Liverpool Irish Festival. This was the second year that we have staged an event that gave the opportunity for people in the community to hear first-hand experiences of former residents. Working in conjunction with established organisations such as the Liverpool Irish Festival allows us to amplify the voice of former residents so that it reaches a wider audience.
Film contributor Marie Arkbuckle attended the screening of Stolen in Manchester and took part in a fascinating Question and Answer session that further illustrated what happened behind the institutions high wall and the impact this had.