Draft:Tamar (Lommel)
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Tamar was a maternity home for unmarried mothers and their children located in the Belgian city of Lommel, run by the Congregation of Kindsheid Jesu. It was established in 1970 in the attic of the Maria Middelares Hospital and later moved in 1976 to its own building next to the hospital.
Despite its religious mission to help young women, the institution became notorious for its involvement in numerous scandals, particularly surrounding forced adoptions, unwanted sterilizations of young girls, and serious forms of abuse directed at unmarried, pregnant women.
Tamar operated during a period in Belgium when adoption practices were often shrouded in secrecy and church-run institutions held significant influence over many aspects of society. One of the most controversial aspects of Tamar’s operations was the involvement in anonymous births, known as Sous X (literally "under X"), a practice that was legal in France but prohibited in Belgium. Many young women, often teenagers, were forced to travel to France to give birth anonymously. Afterward, the children were illegally smuggled back into Belgium and put up for adoption. This withour censent from the Birthmothers.
This practice involved a complex network of church-run institutions [1], medical professionals, and legal loopholes, allowing for the trafficking of children under the guise of adoption. The young mothers, often from disadvantaged backgrounds or unmarried, were made to feel that they had no choice but to relinquish their children. The children, in turn, were often adopted out without the consent or knowledge of their biological families.
The Scandals and Public Exposure
[edit]The extent of Tamar's involvement in forced adoptions and abuse did not come to light until much later. The institution was repeatedly named in books discussing the issue of forced adoptions. Among the notable works addressing the scandals were Kleine Zondaars (2003) by Carine Hutsebaut, Het Verdriet van Adoptieland (2012) by Marleen Adriaens, and Zusters Zonder Liefde (2024) by Jan Stevens. These books revealed that many young mothers were coerced into giving up their babies, often with the manipulation that this was in their best interest or in the interest of the child.
Political and Legal Consequences
[edit]The full extent of the abuses at Tamar became increasingly clear after the 2014 hearings in the Flemish Parliament about forced adoptions [2]. During these hearings, the management of Tamar refused to apologize to the victims, despite the growing body of evidence supporting the claims of abuse and neglect. Former director Josse Tips [3] defended the adoptions, stating that they were largely carried out "at the request of the parents," a claim that was later contradicted by several testimonies from mothers who had been forced to relinquish their children. These testimonies painted a disturbing picture of coercion, manipulation, and control over vulnerable women, many of whom were young and facing social pressure.
Impact on Society and Continued Controversy The legacy of Tamar's abuses continues to resonate in Belgium today. The 2023 podcast series Kinderen van de Kerk (Children of the Church) [4] delves deep into these scandals, shedding light on the darker side of the church's influence on adoption practices. In this four-part series, the main accusations center on the belief that the Sisters at Tamar were involved in "laundering children" as a form of human trafficking. These children, often taken against the will of their mothers, were allegedly placed into adoptions that were profitable for the church-run institutions. The allegations suggest that money played a significant role in these decisions, furthering the idea that the children were treated as commodities [5].
In these discussions, Tamar is portrayed as an institution that exploited the most vulnerable members of society—unwed mothers—and profited from the separation of families. The long-term impact of these practices on both the mothers and children involved has been devastating. Many mothers have spent years trying to reconnect with their children, only to face legal and bureaucratic hurdles, while the adopted children often struggle with issues of identity and the trauma of having been taken from their biological families.
The scandals surrounding Tamar are emblematic of a broader system of control and exploitation within church-run institutions in Belgium and elsewhere [6]. They reveal the darker side of a system that purported to care for the most vulnerable but, in many cases, contributed to the suffering of those it was meant to protect.
References
[edit]- ^ "Catholic Church put up 30,000 children for adoption without mothers' consent". Brussel Times. 14 December 2023.
- ^ "Flemish government issues apology for forced adoptions". The Bulletin. 25 November 2015.
- ^ "Geen excuses van directie Tamar (Dutch)". Nieuwsblad. 10 December 2014.
- ^ "Spotify page podcast Kinderen van de kerk (Dutch)". Het Laatste nieuws. December 2023 – January 2024.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ "'De nonnen hadden een winstgevende structuur gebouwd op fundamenten van leugens en bedrog' (Dutch)". DeMorgen. 26 September 2014.
- ^ "Belgium's forced adoption scandal: Victims on lifelong quest for truth". France24. 29 March 2023.