The Coventry institution quietly helping region’s women and girls since the 1800s.

Thousands of women and children have passed through its doors, yet most Coventrians are unaware of it. A Coventry institution has been quietly assisting the region’s women and children since the late 1800s.

It has seen thousands of disadvantaged women, children, and babies pass through its doors, although many Coventrians are unaware of its presence. Originally called as St Faiths, it dates back to the 1890s. It was initially intended for young women who found themselves homeless or unemployed.

It later became a home where unmarried pregnant women and girls might seek safety.

Throughout the middle decades of the twentieth century, St Faiths placed an unknown number of children for adoption. It evolved over time, changing addresses, but it remained stable, maintaining a calm and dignified, if no less important, presence in the city.

CoventryLive delves into St Faiths throughout four pieces, exploring its history, the people who operated it, the residents who stayed there, and families separated at birth due to adoption.

If you’re of a certain age and from Coventry, there’s a good chance you know someone who has been a visitor at St Faiths at some stage – such is the breadth of the work done there.

It called various addresses home, mostly in and around the city centre, including the long-gone Trafalgar Road, Holyhead Road, and its longest residence, which still remains, on one of the famed old main roads leading out of the city centre.

Adoption is now a closely controlled, government-led procedure, although this was not always the case.

It was not regulated until the Adoption of Children Act of 1929; before that, the entire notion was much more informal, and, sadly, exploitative at times.

The aforementioned statute saw the establishment of institutions such as St Faiths, many of which were church-led. This statute made the adoption process more controlled, however not as strict as it is today.

The Adoption Act of 1976 paved the way for the process we know today. The implementation of new Child Care rules resulted in adoption agencies either merging or discontinuing this particular job.

Prior to this, St Faiths had long welcomed pregnant women and girls, practically all of whom were unmarried, who were unable to stay at home to give birth. Many of the girls were teens, and some had very certainly been raped or coerced. Some were victims of domestic violence.

The orphanage also became a location where young Irish women might seek sanctuary from the inevitable embarrassment of falling pregnant out of marriage in a country still rigidly bound by Catholic church rules.

Changes in social ideals over time are likely to have contributed to the above legislative changes.

Whereas being unmarried and pregnant used to result in ostracism, shame, and other negative consequences, the concept of being born out of wedlock gradually lost its negative connotations.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many young mothers who wanted to keep their children but unable to care for them effectively were brought to St.

Faiths. This is possibly the predecessor of Family Units.

St Faiths evolved, moving away from adoption while still aiding young families, something it continues to do today, albeit under a different name.

Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com