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. She has an extensive and vastly experienced background in education with over 25 years’ primary school classroom teaching experience. She now lives in Norwich and is married, with two grown up children.
Maria was actively involved with the Truth Recovery Design Panel throughout its investigation period. She is a member of the Victims and Survivors Consultation Forum, working with The Executive Office to implement the recommendations of the Truth Recovery Design Report. Recently, she was part of a small working group, established by the Northern Ireland 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, Maria still does not 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.