Yes, that's how it was in those days. A friend of mine was sent to a Catholic home for out of wedlock births, and her baby was whisked off before she even got to see him. Then she went back home and nobody was supposed to know where she had been. She married later and had two daughters. When her son contacted her when he was in his fifties and she in her seventies, she was thrilled. It was as if a lot part of her soul had been restored.