Frances Fitzgerald (Fine Gael)

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 20, paragraph (b), line 30, after "effect" to insert the following:

"stating that she has been fully counselled as to the effect of her decision, that she understands the effect of her decision and that she has made her decision freely".

There are some good points in this section which deals with the "Explanation to mother or guardian as to effect of adoption". It provides six criteria that must be met before the adoption goes ahead. Our amendment suggests including another criterion, that the mother has been counselled as to the effect of her decision, understands it and has made it freely. While the Minister of State might not want to accept the detail of these words, would he accept the principle that a provision of this nature should be built into the legislation? In other words, a certain amount of work should be done with the mother before a final decision is made. If one examines the history of adoption over the years, one will find cases of mothers who now feel, retrospectively, that not enough work was done with them before they gave their children up for adoption. Many women believe that they did not have enough time or information to make their decision or that the consequences of what they were doing were not spelled out. When a woman is deciding whether to give her child up for adoption, it is obviously a highly emotional time. That makes it all the more important that she is given every opportunity to discuss the decision, to get counselling and to receive as much information as possible. I will be interested to hear the Minister of State's comments on this straightforward amendment.