Prison Adoptee

I (L. Mayhew) was interviewed, along with two other descendants of criminalized & incarcerated women & girls connected to the Andrew Mercer Reformatory, for the study “Keeping Mum” on its historical & contemporary legacy & gaps in the current literature. 🥚 Read: queensu.scholaris.ca/items/82ec50...

Some of these girls were incarcerated at Mercer!! www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Adoptees of Bluesky🥚, Ashley Smith was an adoptee. Today marks 19 years since 19-year-old Ashley Smith died in a segregation cell at Grand Valley Institution after being subjected to conditions of torture and isolation.

Today marks 19 years since 19-year-old Ashley Smith died in a segregation cell at Grand Valley Institution after being subjected to conditions of torture and isolation.

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

This #WorldMentalHealthDay, we must recognize that improving mental health requires more than raising awareness. It is imperative that we address the social and economic conditions that dictate people’s well-being.

Invisible Institutions Podcast Season 2 Episode 1 Saskatchewan Training School: “You cannot just walk away” In memoriam of all those buried on the grounds of the Saskatchewan Training Centre invisibleinstitutions.com/invisible-in...

Prison Born calls attention to the colonial and gendered assumptions that continue to underpin the legal system--assumptions that so frequently lead to the violation of the rights and denial of personhood for children and their mothers.🥚 www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULY...

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Fascinating of who exactly was in this institution hasn't been widely reported. 🥚 MOTHER AND BABY HOMES COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION FINAL REPORT 30 October 2020 Chapter 15: The Tuam Children’s Home

www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2DY...

🥚 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Taken from his mother after her imprisonment, adopted at 9, he ran away at 13 and was on the road by 15.🥚

Smith describes Ireland’s Magdalen laundries & its “architecture of containment” as a vast network of interlinked institutions. Canada had a similar architecture—a network of institutions & systems of confinement. The Andrew Mercer Reformatory was but one part of it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r14y...

🥚From one of Canada’s most celebrated journalists comes an intimate collection of interviews that illuminate the joys, pains, traumas, and triumphs of adoption—featuring conversations with John Irving, Jenny Heijun Wills, Marilyn Churley, and more. www.simonandschuster.ca/books/Relati...

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXSQ...

Today is Prisoners’ Justice Day, an international day of remembrance to honour those who have died in custody and a day of action to advance the rights of incarcerated people. 1/3

New York Tribune investigative reporter Matt Kozar returns to war-torn Ukraine on a personal mission – to help a heartbroken nurse find her baby girl stolen by Russian authorities.🥚 books.friesenpress.com/store/title/...

Born into Care International Perspectives on the Removal of Babies at Birth 🥚 bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollbook-o...

As the current National Housing Strategy reaches the end of its cycle in 2027–2028 and a new strategy is being developed, Canada has the chance to reflect on the lessons of the past decade and chart a new path forward.

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🥚 thoughtlessdel.substack.com/p/the-arcgit...

What they don't mention are the women and girls who died there, or the babies born to incarcerated mothers and taken for adoption.

Adoptees of Bluesky: Has anyone heard any critiques of the Northern Ireland redress scheme?🥚 www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/news/ministe...

🥚Shame on Canada and others!👇

Responses to Sweden’s 2025 Adoption Reckoning by @tobiashubinette.bsky.social, born in South Korea, adopted to Sweden, academic 🥚 intercountryadopteevoices.com/2026/07/08/r...

1/6🧵 Ontario decided it needed a separate prison for women. The result was the Andrew Mercer Ontario Reformatory for Females, which opened on August 28, 1880. During the next 89 years, more than 20,000 women and girls would pass through its gates.

🥚I guarantee this adoptee would have no knowledge of their mother's tragic history of abuse. Image from the document dated Jan 26, 2026 Application to Institute Proceedings clg.org/Class-Action...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpqa...

I had no idea!! Almost 20,000 in psychiatric hospitals in Ireland!! What would Canada find? While I research the Mercer Reformatory, I have had a few touch base with me born in psychiatric hospitals and adopted. 🥚 Read the whole article here: theconversation.com/mother-and-b...

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16x9 - Slave Labour: Magdalene Laundries disgraced Irish Catholic women In a 16x9 exclusive, we discover Canadian laundries and speak to a woman who says she was born into slave labour. 🥚 www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD9u...

Last chance to share your feedback! The deadline to provide a written submission to the National Housing Council’s review panel on #AccessibleHousing is June 22! Make your submission here: nhc-cnl.ca/review-panel...

Have lax laws left the for-profit adoption industry ripe for misconduct? FRONTLINE and Retro Report investigate how so-called baby brokers have targeted pregnant women and families looking to adopt, and an epicenter of the problem in Utah.🥚👇 www.pbs.org/video/baby-b...

Research has consistently demonstrated that poverty, housing insecurity, untreated mental health challenges, addiction, childhood trauma, and a lack of community supports are among the strongest predictors of criminal legal system involvement. 6/8

There is a common misconception that safe consumption sites encourage drug use. The purpose of these services is to save lives, recognizing that people cannot recover if they are dead. 1/12 www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Access to prison records was previously limited under claims that the YCJA protected the records of girls under 18. My group and I challenged this barrier and were successful. Learn more below.🥚👇

Why do we comply? Habit? Trust? Because we've been taught not to question things? Millions filled out the long-form census without a second thought. Most of us don't recognize when our rights may be eroded until someone raises a red flag. www.jccf.ca/constitution...

"The worst thing they did was make us grateful." Good explanation of how gratitude was manufactured among the Orphan Train riders.🥚 Hope the link works. www.facebook.com/reel/1770764...

@adopteereading.bsky.social A category for adoptees with a carceral birth, perhaps? Laureen Pittman and Deborah Jiang-Stein are both adoptees who have published books. Hopefully, mine will join them soon.🥚 Great website - thank you!👇

Hello again, adoptee readers! This post explains why our website was inaccessible for several months. Adoptee Reading is now back online & ready to continue helping adopted people discover #adoption literature from the #adoptee perspective. adopteereading.com/2026/06/01/a...

National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pb...

🥚I corruption just never ends. They should be investigating prisons though in every country!!

🥚A Saskatchewan group called AIM (Adopt Indian and Métis) aired May 30, 1968. www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

🥚Notably an empty chair. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwzJ...