Dr. Lydia Bracken:

The Adoption (Amendment) Act 2017 stipulates that in order for the partner of a parent, whether the spouse or co-habiting partner, to engage in second parent adoption, he or she has to care for the child for two years to become eligible. There is a two year waiting period before second parent adoption becomes an option in the first instance. Where the waiting period has not been met and the spouse or cohabiting partner has been caring for the child for less than two years - for example, where the child is under the age of two - a full joint adoption will be required. In a full joint adoption, the birth parent has to give up his or her existing legal rights and jointly adopt with his or her partner or spouse. That changes the child's status in terms of the biological parent and is an unnecessarily complicated situation. This is the main legal reason that second parent adoption is not a viable solution to be used in cases of donor assisted human reproduction, DAHR, or surrogacy.