Maria Cogley was born in Belfast and grew up in the north of the city. She left Northern Ireland to attend University followed by teacher training college in England and has an extensive and vastly experienced background in education with over 25 years’ primary school classroom teaching experience.
Maria was actively involved with the Truth Recovery Panel throughout its investigation period and is a member of the victim/survivor Consultation Forum working with The Executive Office to implement the recommendations of the Truth Recovery Report. Recently, she was part of a small working group, established by the NI Department of Health, tasked with developing and writing guidance for Adoption Agencies (including Health and Social Care Trusts) relating to the disclosure and release of birth records and adoption files.
Maria’s own mother was sent to Marianville mother and baby institution in Belfast in 1969 when her pregnancy was discovered. Ten days after her birth, Maria was removed from her mother in Marianville and placed with adoptive parents. Fifty years on and Maria still doesn’t know the full details of her birth and subsequent adoption.
Maria is not only advocating for her now deceased mother and adoptive brother, but also for the thousands of people, like herself, who have been and continue to be affected by all the institutions under scrutiny, forced adoption/family separation and related pathways and practices.