Mothers Diagnosed Psychotic Until TPR Signed

Nurse Recalls Court and Physician Collaboration

Introduction

On Sunday, October 5, 1997, in an online forum called Adoptlist, the following posting was submitted by Elizabeth O. (surname withheld), a member with experience in the treatment of "unwed mothers" in the 1960s. 

Trained to be Indifferent

"I thought it might help those who weren't teenagers or adults in the 60's to know a little of what unwed motherhood meant in those days. We all owe it to ourselves to know the past so we don't make the same mistakes in the present. I always like to say, we can't know where we are going if we don't know where we've been.

"My nursing school dorms were near Ingleside Maternity Home in Buffalo, NY. In the 60's a pregnant, unwed middle class woman did not live at home. What would the neighbors say? The unwed mothers from Ingleside went to the same little shops we did. They'd be there with their fake wedding bands and swollen bellies, and we'd talk about them behind their backs. We never wanted anyone to think we were from Ingleside. We'd walk to the other side of the street if we had to just so no one would mistaken us for being one of them. We were damn right smug little, better than thou college students. Never mind that a few in our class had already relinquished (not known til years later), never mind that over the next few years a few others would have their turns at being pregnant and unwed. The code was in place, silence was the way it was. If you'd been in a home you never said a word. If you had a child out there somewhere only you knew, not your classmates. Secrecy reigned supreme. 

"And on our OB rotation we went to the Salvation Army's maternity home in Buffalo. We were told, and we didn't question it, to not become friends with the women there. We could not even know their 1st names . Here they were girls just like us, we could have become friends but they needed to know they'd sinned and they'd have to pay the price. Of course there were others who'd also sinned, they just didn't get caught. So we performed our clinical duties and skills , leaving our humanity in limbo."

The Conspiracy and its Implementation

"An unwed mother who wouldn't sign relinquishment papers would be adjudicated psychotic by the court, being committed to a mental institution, and have her parental rights involuntarily terminated. I saw this happen on several occasions during my OB rotation. An unwed mother wouldn't sign, her OB doctor, a male 98% of the time, would call another OB doctor, also a male, and the 2nd OB would nod and say "yes, psychotic", then the psychiatrist would be called, he would confirm the OBs' assessment and the mother was removed from the OB ward and taken to the psy lock up unit. Usually after a short stay there relinquishment papers got signed. And then, voila, no more psychosis so the patient was discharged. 

"This is how it was. It was wrong to treat people the way unwed mothers were treated. It makes me sick and ashamed when I think of how I treated the unwed mothers I knew or had contact with. If you weren't a teen and young adult in the 50's and 60's then you simply *cannot* know what it was like. You cannot take the standards and experiences of the 90's and apply them to that time and place. It's grossly unfair to do so. Read "Wake Up Little Suzie" by Rickie Solinger."