The former Good Shepherd Convent in Derry
The First Minister’s comments follow the publication of a long-awaited report into mother-and-baby homes and Magdalene Laundries here, including Derry.
The Stormont-commissioned research was carried out by Queen’s University and Ulster University.
It examined whether a public inquiry should be held into the homes.
A previous Historical Institutional Inquiry into Abuse found that in regard to the Good Shepherd Sisters facilities in Derry, there had been “unacceptable practices” of young girls being forced to do industrial work in the laundries.
Speaking in the Stormont Assembly on Tuesday, Mrs Foster said a “co-designed and victims-centred” investigative process would take place first.
It is hoped that work would be completed within the next six months, she said.
“A statutory public inquiry may well be the outcome of that process but victims and survivors will be given the opportunity to influence that,” added the first minister.
The report, which runs to about 550 pages, was commissioned by the Department of Health in 2018 and assessed the period from 1922 to 1990.
It examined eight mother and baby homes, a number of former workhouses, four Magdalene Laundries and sought personal testimony from women and children with “lived experience” of the institutions.
Mrs Foster outlined some of the key findings and said it was likely a “conservative estimate” that over 10,500 women and girls entered the institutions, operated by both Catholic and Protestant churches as well as other religious organisations, during that 68-year period.
She described it as “appalling” that the report found a number were the victims of sexual crime, including rape and incest.
“We want to offer our personal thanks to those women and now their adult children who came forward to contribute to the research – your voices were silenced for so many years,” said the first minister.
“That was a significant wrong, and as a society we must acknowledge this and do all we can to bring the truth of your experience into the open.”
The first and deputy first ministers met with victims and survivors on Tuesday to brief them on the report, and said they would be given opportunity to take part in work to define the aims of the investigation and how it should operate.
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said survivors of the institutions had been “failed on every level”.
“We recognise how sensitive this issue is and how raw the pain still felt by all who suffered,” she added.
“We must move forward carefully and respectfully and ensure that at all times the voices of those survivors and their now adult children are at the centre of this process.”
The publication of the report in the North of Ireland comes after a similar investigation into mother-and-baby homes and laundries in the Republic of Ireland, which prompted an apology from Taoiseach Mícheál Martin.
This report found an “appalling level of infant mortality”.
About 9,000 children died in the 18 institutions which were investigated.
Mr Martin said there had been “profound and generational wrong”, adding it was a “dark, difficult and shameful chapter” of Irish history.
Following the report’s publication, Mrs Foster and Ms O’Neill met the Irish Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman.
They said there was a need for the executive and the Irish government to work together in sharing information and to support survivors.
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