Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I have met the International Adoption Association on a number of occasions since my appointment and the organisation has consistently raised the delay in the assessment procedure, as have constituents, Deputies and Senators. Complaints are also made about the procedure, although people are reluctant to complain about it because they feel they may jeopardise their chances of succeeding in their application. The International Adoption Association has made representations to me about ideas that will improve the speed at which this is done. I am in discussion with the organisation on this matter but it is not addressed in this legislation. It is an administrative issue concerning how the HSE carries out its business and whether an accredited body can do some of this work, as suggested by Senator Bacik.

I draw the attention of Senator Alex White to section 37(3):

As soon as practicable after the Health Service Executive receives an application under subsection (1), the Health Service Executive shall take the following steps concerning the adoption proposed under the separate application referred to in subsection (2)(b) or arrange for the steps to be taken by an accredited body:

(a) providing information, advice and counselling to the applicants;

(b) carrying out an assessment of eligibility and suitability in relation to the applicants;

That point is catered for in legislation. I have met the HSE about this matter on a number of occasions and it is trying to standardise the process in different parts of the country. Members have probably heard anecdotally that the process is much quicker in Donegal than in Dublin. The agency is trying to make sure this is equalised and after working on this standardisation process the HSE cannot guarantee that it will shorten waiting times. The HSE is upfront about this point.

The HSE has responsibility for this area under section 6 of the Child Care Act and for entering into arrangements with adoption societies in respect of providing services for the adoption of children. It is important that the HSE retains a central role in this to ensure that standards are maintained and that there is consistency in the standards applied through the assessment procedures. There has been discussion about a not-for-profit agency with the International Adoption Agency and this is not precluded by the legislation. For those reasons, I ask Senators to withdraw the amendments, which are not necessary because of section 37.