Cherish Founder Annette Evans Nee Hunter Passed Away
Cherish All the Children is the remarkable story of One Family’s founders; those brave women who refused to give up their children for adoption nearly 50 years ago. They formed Cherish, changed the law on illegitimacy and fought to get a single parent’s allowance.
Cherish was set up by single parents, for single parents and this documentary features interviews with our core founders, including Annette Hunter Evans, who share their personal experiences and the challenges of being pregnant and single in Ireland five decades ago.
The documentary was first broadcast on Today FM on Sunday 29 December 2013 at 9am.
In 1987, after many years of campaigning, the Status of Children Act finally abolished the status of illegitimacy. The purpose of the Bill was to equalise the rights under the law of all children, whether born within or outside of marriage.
The Bill also introduced important new provisions regarding declarations of parentage, blood testing as an aid to establishing paternity, presumptions of parentage and other evidential matters. Finally, it amended the law dealing with the registration of births of children whose parents are not married to each other.
The Act was passed eight years after the first Discussion Document from Cherish, 13 years after the first conference in 1974. 15 years after the foundation of Cherish. The campaign for change was a long haul – but worth it.