Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their informative contributions. I welcome that the committee is considering the issue of adoption. As we have agreed to consider separately the issues pertaining to information and tracing, I will focus my comments on domestic and intercountry adoptions and to briefly consider the legislation.
In regard to domestic adoption, we passed the children's referendum in 2011 but the Supreme Court is still considering it. In the absence of the Supreme Court judgment, 6,500 children are in care, of whom 92% are in foster care and just under one third, or 2,000 children, are in long-term foster care and potentially eligible for adoption. In 2013, 20 adoptions took place involving children in long-term foster care, which equates to 1% of the 2,000 children in long-term care. These children will potentially be available for adoption if and, I hope, when the amendment Bill is enacted. I am conscious that every day we delay enacting the amending legislation, children are turning 18 years old and their rights are being expunged. What is the Adoption Authority doing to prepare for the change to the law allowing these children to be adopted? The worst case scenario is that in the time period between the approval of the amending Act and the introduction of further legislation, we will not be ready for children who can legally be adopted. Sometimes when we discuss the issue of adoption we immediately jump to intercountry adoption. There are children in Ireland who wish to be adopted and in respect of whom everybody agrees to their adoption. There is no contention but they are not being given this second chance in life.
Intercountry adoption is a sensitive issue. I am happy that Ireland is a signatory to the Hague Convention. We were at the end of the list because we were so late ratifying it. Mr. Gildea mentioned some of the figures involved. According to the figures presented at the April conference, Ireland is medium to average when it comes to intercountry adoptions. The International Adoption Association has cited a figure of 11 adoptions in the last three years. I cannot find the basis for that figure. Perhaps the Adoption Authority can clarify the matter. The figure is regularly repeated in the media but I do not know the source. This morning the authority set out a figure of 141 for 2013. The presentation from Hague indicated that in 2012, Ireland had 117 intercountry adoptions. I want to understand the basis for the figure of 11 adoptions.
If a prospective adoptive parent goes for assessment, he or she is automatically assessed, and often it is not until two or three years into the process that he or she is told the reality, as the authority has outlined, that there are 14 times more applications than there are available adoptees and that the children are going to be older and more likely to have disabilities. It is a serious issue if we are not being upfront with prospective adoptive parents about the availability and the likelihood of adoption. It is something we have to address. We are carrying out assessments needlessly.
The International Adoption Association raised an issue regarding inconsistency in assessments. However, I have also read about negative assessments being overturned in a study of intercountry adoptions carried out in 2005. Children ended up in care after being adopted because they were not being monitored. A promise was given to establish a database on these figures. Where stands the authority in that regard?
In respect of prospective legislation, I am a supporter of open adoption and the right to identity. The Adoption Rights Alliance and the Children's Rights Alliance have clearly stated their position on these issues. I do not agree with the Government on the constitutional block. If we consider the case of I. O'T. v.B, it was quite clear in regard to the right to identity in that it invited the Government to introduce legislation to clarify the situation and determine the balance by statute. We need to consider carefully the possibility of establishing a system of open adoption and the right to identity. However, I ask the authority, in light of its experience in this area, whether it is satisfactory, if we introduce this legislation, to arbitrarily provide that anyone born on a certain date will have a right to his or her identity but those born before the date will not have that right. We will have to consider that issue seriously.
Several years ago a number of international reports raised serious questions about accredited bodies. I ask the authority whether it can assure me these questions have been addressed and that all bodies' accreditation is up to date.