Mr. Kiernan Gildea:

I am grateful for the invitation today. The Adoption Authority of Ireland is the national central authority for adoptions in Ireland. The authority's functions are carried out pursuant to the Adoption Act 2010 and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Intercountry Adoption. The three adoption service areas regulated by the authority and covered in my opening statement are domestic adoption, information and tracing and intercountry adoption.

Domestic adoption occurs when families living in Ireland adopt a child in Ireland. Domestic adoption was legalised in Ireland in 1952. To date, there have been in excess of 46,000 domestic adoption orders finalised by the authority and its predecessor, the Adoption Board. In 2013, 116 adoption orders were granted, of which 86 were step family adoptions. The authority granted 164 declarations of eligibility and suitability for domestic adoption in the same year. The authority welcomed the children's referendum in November 2012, the result of which has yet to be ratified, as it highlighted the rights and best interests of children and sought to ensure the voice of the child would be heard in all matters concerning the child. In its commitment to domestic adoption, the authority works closely with the Child and Family Agency to place children in need of adoptive homes in Ireland in a timely and child-centred fashion.

In 2012 and 2013, a number of issues requiring legal attention were brought to the attention of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs by the authority, including the option of open adoption; a legal means other than adoption to be explored in step family and extended family situations to establish the rights and responsibilities of adoptive parents without changing the status of the child's mother to that of adoptive parent and to prevent the birth or natural father's loss of rights and responsibilities in relation to the child; and the removal of the automatic legal right to an assessment for adoption. Due to the legal right to assessment, no legal restriction can be placed on the number of people seeking assessment for adoption.

To turn to information and tracing, I note that in Ireland identifying information is not given to people who were adopted nor to their birth relatives without each other's consent as there is no legal basis to release the information. Case law has prohibited the release of identifying information to people involved in adoption to date. There is, therefore, little legal basis for the existence of services in this area. As there have been in excess of 46,000 legal domestic adoptions affecting at least 150,000 Irish citizens and unknown numbers of illegal registrations, the authority believes that provision of a legal framework in this area is urgent.

The National Adoption Contact Preference Register, NACPR, was set up by the former Adoption Board in 2005. It allows birth relatives and people who were adopted to express their choice for contact or a veto on such contact with a blood relative. In 2012 and 2013, there were 1,236 applications to join the NACPR, which resulted in 125 matches in those years. By the end of 2013, there were almost 7,500 adopted people and 3,400 natural relatives on the register. This has resulted in 670 matches to date. As the NACPR is voluntary and passive, its success depends on the number of adopted persons and birth relatives choosing to register their wishes in relation to contact. This is because people register and are matched before any connection can be made between the parties. Any enquirers to the authority, the Child and Family Agency's adoption services or accredited adoption service providers are routinely informed about the existence of the register and strongly encouraged to join. The authority appeals to any other persons or organisations with an interest in this area to do the same.

The authority holds the view that all people who have been adopted have rights to identifying information. Release of birth certificates when an adult adopted person reaches 18 years must be given serious consideration by the Legislature. The authority has made submissions to the Minister in this regard. As is the case in other jurisdictions, the authority believes that the release of identifying information should be a legal right subject to certain conditions such as a veto for the birth or natural mother or person who was adopted of the release of information or contact, or being informed prior to the event, and counselling or mediation prior to release of the information. International experience and research demonstrate that access to knowledge of birth family and the availability of professional counselling and mediation services in the area of search and reunion are essential post-adoption services for people involved in the lifelong process that is adoption. In the absence of legislation to frame practice, people have resorted to a number of methods to connect with birth families. The use of social media has resulted in immediate contact without the safeguards such as counselling and time required to protect all parties' rights in this highly sensitive area.

The authority has made submissions to the Minister to the effect that people who believe themselves to be adopted or believe that they placed their children for adoption, such as people affected by illegal birth registrations, should also be free to avail of post-adoption services and have a legal right to be given identifying information where this is available. It should also be noted that managing expectations about the level and accuracy of available information on old records is an important issue for those seeking information about birth relatives. The Adoption Board, now the authority, called for the introduction of legislation in this area as far back as 1983. While the difficulties of drafting legislation in such a complex and sensitive area are acknowledged, the lack of a statutory basis continues to cause difficulties in the provision of a national adoption information and tracing service to meet the needs of thousands of adopted people and their birth or natural relatives.

In respect of intercountry adoption, there are at least 14 times more prospective Irish parents seeking to adopt babies and children than there are children being referred to Ireland for adoption from abroad. People seeking to adopt young and healthy babies are most unlikely to have a child placed with them due to the worldwide decrease in the number of infants available for adoption. However, large numbers of older children and children with special needs continue to live in orphanages and state institutions around the world and can often be available for intercountry adoption. In 2013, the authority granted 266 declarations of eligibility and suitability to people seeking to adopt abroad and 141 entries were made in the register of intercountry adoptions.

The authority hosted the 18th informal meeting of European central authorities for intercountry adoption in Dublin and 55 delegates attended from 23 countries. Representatives from the Hague Permanent Bureau and UNICEF also attended. Trends identified throughout Europe were that children available for adoption are getting older; the majority of children available for adoption will be regarded as "special needs" - a term used in those countries; the number of children available for adoption is decreasing worldwide; and the viability of many European accredited bodies is in doubt due to the decreasing number of intercountry adoptions. As a result, the preparation for prospective adoptive parents will have to take account of the new reality and prospective adoptive parents and adoption service providers must manage their expectations of intercountry adoption in line with the current realities.

During 2012 and 2013, the authority continued to progress negotiations under the Hague Convention with a number of jurisdictions in an attempt to conclude administrative arrangements in the area of intercountry adoption. Equally important are the functions of accredited bodies in this field. Due to the challenges faced by children with additional needs and the difficulties faced by prospective adoptive parents in effecting adoptions in foreign countries, the use of accredited bodies in facilitating intercountry adoption on behalf of families and in line with the Hague Convention is considered best practice and is promoted by the authority. There are approximately 650 valid declarations for intercountry adoption in Ireland while there are decreased numbers of infants adoptable worldwide, notwithstanding that the numbers of older children and children with additional or special needs remain at high levels in institutions. There are, therefore, a significant number of Irish families with declarations which are unlikely to result in the adoption of a child. The number of children being adopted internationally has been falling significantly in recent years. This is due to the regulatory standards imposed by the Hague Convention in the intercountry adoption process, the fact that most prospective parents want to adopt young and healthy infants, and the putting in place by many countries of origin of child protection frameworks domestically which are aimed at maintaining children within their native countries. It must also be said that prior to the State's ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention in November 2010, Ireland had a disproportionately high level of private independent adoptions, that is, adoptions not involving the national central authority in the country of origin.

Children are often over 18 months old when available for intercountry adoption. Generally, such children are between three and six years old as well as which they may have an older or younger sibling and, in many cases, additional health or medical needs. The international trend is that children are being placed on average from about four years of age having spent 44 months in institutional care.

The authority has made a comprehensive submission to the Minister with regard to possible amendments to the Adoption Act 2010.

Adoption legislation was first legislated for in Ireland in 1952. To date, there have been in excess of 46,000 adoption orders made. The number of adoption orders made in one year peaked in 1967 at 1,493. During this entire period, the legal definition of adoption has remained the same but the profile of adoption in Ireland has undergone tremendous change. This change is characterised by the decline in the total number of adoption orders granted; the decline in traditional infant adoption; the practice of open adoption; an increase in family adoptions particularly step parent adoptions; in exceptional circumstances, the adoption of marital children; the legal requirement to consult birth fathers in adoption applications; a significant increase in the rate of intercountry adoption from 1991 to 2010; a significant decrease in the numbers of intercountry adoptions since 2010; an upsurge in the number of information and tracing queries countrywide; increasing demands for post-adoption services; the establishment of the National Adoption Contact Preference Register in 2005; the introduction of the Adoption Act 2010, including the Hague Convention standards; and changes in the profile of children available for adoption from babies to older children with additional needs.