Ms Mary Slattery:

I am concerned about two things. One is the consent form mothers must sign under head 13 on page 61 and page 187 of the Bill. We think the Bill is skewed in favour of the birth parent and we do not think that is right as there should be more balance. The birth mother can sign the consent form without any evidence of her legal relationship to the adult child. She may have to produce two current forms of identification but these might be totally different from where she was 40, 35 or 50 years ago. One legal document is available to the mother and that is the original birth certificate. We believe that when she puts forward her consent form she should show identification of the legal relationship to the adult child. Otherwise, it is open to all forms of abuse and there are no checks and balances. The mother could sign it and she could be any Joe Bloggs. Not only can the mother do that, so can somebody else on her behalf. That is unethical and wrong.

In England it is only since 2005 that birth mothers have actually been able to trace their children. In the UK legislation the birth mother is required to show the legal relationship to the adult adoptee and we think it is important to separate out the question of information from privacy issues. The current world of the mother, her deep loss, is a separate emotional issue. We are talking about information. We need to separate the emotion of the mother from the legal information that links her to her adult child and this, in turn, will allow the adult adoptee to get the birth certificate. It is their right to do so and hitherto they have been treated as second class citizens.

Under head 13, Nos. 23 and 24 on page 68, the Minister can make regulations. There is an omission in the Bill in that there is no accountability. There are no minimum standards in adoption. We have been plagued with secrecy, deceit and lies. When I was in my doctor's surgery in 2003 I located a booklet entitled Pregnant and Thinking about Adoption. On the subject of us birth mothers it says, "While birth mothers continue to remember their child they can move on with their lives in a positive and meaningful way". That was a complete lie and I make no bones about it. It was unethical and wrong of those who compiled this booklet, with State funding, to state that birth mothers could move on with their lives in a positive and meaningful way without acknowledging their loss in any shape or form. This was only 12 years ago.

Last year the husband of a friend of mine, who is an adoptee in his mid-40s, went about getting his non-identified information through his local agency but was met by a trainee social worker, a student on placement, a 20 year old. We are looking for accountability and standards. Minimum standards were brought in for foster care in 2003 which are now regulated by HIQA and we see no reason why minimum standards cannot be brought in by the Minister to regulate, inspect and support the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill.