Mothers of stolen babies want 'apology before we die'

[Zurdo]

Each side of my Irish families treated them differently. On my fathers side they were taken into the family, brought up with uncles and aunts as brothers and sisters. When my Grandfather's eldest sister was leaving home, she wanted to take her daughter with her - but her father said ''I brought her up as my own, so she is mine, she stays here.''

On my mother's side they were taken away. One of her sisters had a baby in hospital at the same time as her mother was there dying of cancer. When the younger girls went off to school one morning (Nuns !) their father said ''Say goodbye to the baby, because he won't be here when you come home.'' With the 2nd child she was told he died just after he was born. That child didn't know he was adopted until he was 59...and it's been good getting to know him.

My mother used to write to her sisters at the kitchen table all the time, they lived in places like Taumarunui, Te Awamutu, and Tokanui, which I just thought was a small town. She died at Tokanui, before her son found her.

So yes, an apology would be a small gesture.