ABSTRACT
Investigative journalists, films, documentaries, newspapers, books, and radio have all played a role in opening up the extraordinary stories of institutional life in Ireland. This chapter focuses on unravelling the context in which the particular form of Irish institutional care evolved for the benefit of professionals working with survivors. The position of children in society, the historic evolution of the state vis-a-vis colonisation, the dominance of Catholic social teaching, and the slow development of a professional input into the care of children are seen as key to understanding the Irish institutional legacy. The clients assumed that professionals lacked awareness of Irish cultural heritage, transgenerational trauma, the intercultural emotion legacy, and their current experiences of racism or discrimination. During the first six decades of the twentieth century, the professional voice was largely missing from child welfare provision in Ireland. Among survivors in general, many report feeling misunderstood by health and other professionals.
