Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue and affording me the opportunity to outline the current position on this sensitive matter. I will begin by putting the subject of inter-country adoption into context. Inter-country adoption has become an increasing phenomenon in recent years. The International Social Service has estimated that between 30,000 and 40,000 children around the world are adopted annually. These children generally come from developing countries or those in transition and are received by families living in industrialised countries, particularly in Europe and North America. This trend is reflected in Ireland, as requests for inter-country adoption assessments are continuously increasing. A study on inter-country adoption undertaken by the children's research centre in Trinity College revealed that Ireland has one of the highest rates for inter-country adoption in Europe.

It is against this background that my office is working to create the appropriate legislative, policy and administrative frameworks to ensure a well regulated regime of adoption. Our aim is to support and protect prospective parents and, more important, the children for whom adoption services are devised and provided.

Deputies will be aware that the Adoption Bill 2009, which will give force of law to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, was published on 23 January 2009. A core principle of the Hague Convention is that inter-country adoption should be child centred, that is, in all stages of the process the child's interests must be paramount. Legislating for inter-country adoption is essential to give protections to children in the process of adoption. The Hague convention has put in place the equivalent of a contract between states to regulate the standards that will apply in each jurisdiction. It is an additional safeguard for a receiving country like Ireland regarding the standards that are applied in a sending country over which we have no jurisdiction. As a receiving country, it is especially important to have confidence in the process of consent to the adoption, the status of the child as adoptable and the guarantee of no improper financial gain from the process. The convention is based on the premise that inter-country adoption should only be considered when a suitable family cannot be found for the child in his or her country of origin. Accordingly, a series of options such as the child being cared for by relatives or in a family within his or her own country are primary considerations. The convention does not oblige a sending country to engage in a particular number of adoptions; rather countries are advised to engage in only as many inter-country adoptions as they can reasonably control. The Department of Health and Children fully supports this approach.

Despite the situation in individual countries, on a global scale fewer children appear to be available for inter-country adoption. Many developing countries are no longer able to release enough children to respond to the adoption requests of receiving countries and this situation can create pressure on sending countries which jeopardise the paramount interests of the child.

I firmly believe that legislation and specifically the regime of the Hague convention provides an assurance for individual children, their families and the State that appropriate procedures have been followed and that an adoption was carried out in the best interests of the child. As such, it is our intention that all inter-country adoptions will now meet the standards of the Hague convention. Under the proposed new legislative regime, prospective adoptive parents will be able to adopt from countries which have ratified the convention or from those countries with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement based on Hague standards. As part of the preparations for the likely passage and entry into force of these new legislative arrangements, my office has been liaising closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs to identify and negotiate with countries seeking homes abroad for children in need of alternative care which cannot be provided domestically. We are working actively to assess the possibility of entering into bilateral agreements with a small number of countries, including Vietnam and the Russian Federation.

In the case of Vietnam, we have a foundation in the form of the agreement which expired in recent days. We have no agreement in place with Russia although many Irish applicants adopt from that country. We understand there may be issues on the Russian side regarding placements with Irish applicants. This matter appears to pertain to the provision of post-adoption reports in respect of children already adopted in Ireland. I am examining the matter and will report separately and in detail to the House on it. A meeting has taken place today between my Office and the Russian Embassy regarding the removal of the HSE form the blacklist issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

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