Dáil debates

Thursday, 26 November 2009

Adoption Bill 2009 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

1:00 pm

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I welcome the Bill, which finally provides for the Irish Government to ratify the Hague convention on inter-country adoptions. This is a progressive step forward and it is the right way to go, albeit the Bill is long overdue.

The Hague Convention is designed to ensure that inter-country adoptions are made in the best interests of the child, with respect for his or her fundamental rights and to prevent the abduction, sale of or trafficking of children. Deputies have been privy to many cases of illegal adoptions over the years. Some cases have resulted in terrible circumstances with tragic abuse for the unfortunate children in question, primarily because no checks and balances were in place and as a result of an abuse of the system in place.

The majority of adoptions by families in Ireland today are inter-country adoptions. Thousands of people have adopted children from abroad and many others are in the process or will wish to adopt from abroad in the future. We have to ensure that the rights of children and mothers are fully respected in the countries from which people are adopting, a matter of great importance. The rights of the mother, and the rights of the biological father of the child, a matter not often referred to in this debate, must be protected as well.

On Monday, a report was released from UNICEF which raised very serious questions about adoption practices in Vietnam. It states that "the level and nature of inter-country adoptions from Vietnam are essentially influenced by foreign demand". The report stated this was shown by the fact that the majority of children adopted from Vietnam were under one year of age, the age group most sought after by would-be adoptive parents. Some ten or 15 years ago there were a significant number of adoptions from orphanage centres in Romania. Vietnam now appears to be one of the countries in which adoptions are being processed because of a bilateral arrangement.

The UNICEF report also raised serious questions about procedures for verifying the status of children and for ensuring free and informed consent to adoption. This is of great concern. I spoke to the Minister of State in respect of constituents who have lobbied on the matter and who are awaiting adoptions from Vietnam. I believe many other Members have encountered the same circumstances. The Minister of State has been very helpful in this regard and I appreciate it.

We can all understand the desire of people to adopt, especially couples who cannot have children themselves. However, the interests of the children must be paramount and if there are any doubts about this, the issues must be addressed. Vietnam has been a major source country for children adopted in Ireland. The State's previous bilateral agreement with Vietnam has expired and people who were in the process of adopting have been left in a difficult situation. I urge the Minister of State to do all in his power to assist and I accept that he will do so. A new bilateral agreement is needed but the issues highlighted in the UNICEF report must be resolved, a matter of paramount importance. I trust this will be agreed given the number of people effectively in limbo at present.

Strong human rights safeguards are essential and must be backed up by such legislation as this Bill. This is why the Hague Convention is so important. In making bilateral agreements with other states on inter-country adoptions, we must be satisfied that children's rights are fully safeguarded as well as the rights of the mother and, if possible, the rights of the father. We do not seek to have repeated in other countries what happened here, where children were dumped in institutions, some of them fostered and abused in foster care.

In the not too distant past, a woman approached me and informed me of her circumstances. She, along with her sister and brother, became parent-less as a result of the death of her mother and father within six months. They were dumped in institutions in this country. This person left the institution eventually as a girl of sixteen years with a train ticket to Dublin. There, she became pregnant and ended up having the child. She was taken to an institution in the Six Counties by the parents of the father of the child and the child was forcibly removed from her. She spent the rest of her life trying to find that child. Thankfully, a happy ending followed. Eventually, she found her child, albeit with significant resistance from the religious orders, which did everything in their power to prevent the reunion from coming about. That is what happened and although she is now deceased, the last 18 years of her life were blissful because she had found her lost son.

There are many cases which other Members could relate as well involving similar circumstances and in which people were put into institutions for no reason whatsoever. In some such cases, the lives of these people were destroyed as a result. In the very recent past, I encountered a case in which a son was trying to locate his mother. Again, there was significant resistance from the religious orders and institutions but eventually the required information was forthcoming. The working out of the Bill and the ratification of the Hague Convention should protect the child and the parents of the child from the country of adoption. This is a very good proposal and the resulting legislation will be very good as well.

On a related issue, there are considerable delays in the HSE process of carrying out assessments of applicants to be adoptive parents. The Hague Convention requires assessments to be carried out in reasonable time, which is not the case in this instance. I trust the Minister of State will ensure that the new Bill leads to speedier assessments.

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