Ms Celia Loftus:

On the automatic right to assessment, it is clear that there are far more prospective adoptive parents assessed and finalised than there are children available. We know that, as pointed out, there are older children in institutions, but there are more families looking for younger and healthier children who could be directed towards fostering. The AAI recommendation is for fostering into adoption. We would agree that fostering should occur concurrently in respect of couples seeking to adopt also. In terms of the automatic right to assessment, I must in this regard speak for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, as well as the AAI, because that is a huge drain on resources. If there are 600 applicants for inter-country adoption and the maximum number of children that can under the Hague Convention be adopted here this year is 50, then many families will not be able to adopt inter-country. Assessment of all 600 applicants would therefore be a waste of resources. Assessment takes place over many hours, which is often very difficult for prospective adopters. The carrying out of an assessment, in terms of personnel and services, when it is not going to lead to the adoption of a child is a waste of resources. We have asked time and again that the law be changed so that it does not allow for an automatic right to assessment, because that means we often have to assess couples who are elderly or ill, which is what happened in regard to Irish children adopted by American people 50 years ago. Many of the parents who adopted children from Ireland at that time were old or in ill health. We are now in that position. We need to reduce the onus on the service in this regard and to put together criteria that allow us to assess couples correctly. The current automatic right to assessment results in a wastage of resources.

On negative reports, the issue in this regard is what has been described as the transition. Previously, when a declaration came through, it was almost definite that a family would get a child. That is no longer the case. In fact, it has not been the case for about five years. That had changed even prior to Ireland's ratification of the Hague Convention. While that convention is welcome in terms of the protection of children, the remainder of it leaves a lot to be desired. It is horrific for a couple who want children and are infertile to learn that children are not available by a route open to them up to 2010, namely, private adoption. I accept that there was and is a great deal of corruption in the countries concerned. It took a huge amount out of the social worker to write a negative recommendation in respect of any couple. In many cases the board of the AAI did not endorse those negative recommendations, and generally overturned them. Professional confidence in a person's assessment goes at that point. We are now trying to assist couples through the assessment as opposed to giving them negative recommendations. Since 2010, because our regulatory function is much more defined, only 20 of the 200 to 330 assessments which take place each year have been negative. Those negative assessments, which are coming through from the bottom up, are being upheld by the board. As such, the situation as outlined is no longer the case. Things have changed in those few years.

That is not coming out in what is being stated publicly. Many couples waiting for younger children have old declarations; these people are waiting three to five years for a child, so a declaration is there for a long time. The people have gone through an assessment and thought they were getting a younger, healthier child. The position has changed completely and we give very clear information from the authority on the profile of children through assessing social workers. Fewer couples will currently come through the assessment and make the same complaints, as it is not the case any more. They now know what they are getting into and they are much clearer about the fact that the children have needs.

We need resources for inspection, and one of the questions concerned numbers. I am a principal social worker and there are four social workers at the Adoption Authority of Ireland, AAI. Two of them work in information and tracing and two more provide ongoing review of assessments. That is the only inspection we have, and from that we have formulated guidelines for domestic adoption. I would hate to hear anybody say we are not working at the AAI, as we work very hard. We will rewrite inter-country guidelines and are in the process of formulating fostering guidelines.

Another question was how we are preparing for the pool of children in fostering. The board is very willing to agree with the negative assessments and in the process of review we have come up with at least another 20% that we as the social work service at the adoption authority would not give recommendations to. Some of those have also been overturned. It is a misrepresentation to say that where there is a negative report, we are not agreeing with it. We are mostly agreeing with negative reports, as they are not come to lightly.