Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to comment on the Bill at the conclusion of Committee Stage and I look forward to making further contributions on Report Stage. As I did before, I welcome this Bill, as did people on both sides of the House. The debate on it has been extremely worthwhile and has, I hope, contributed to what will be an improvement of the Bill on Report Stage. I would like to mention some points the Minister indicated he would examine and about which I hope we can continue the debate on Report Stage.

There has been a great deal of discussion in the House on the bilateral agreements about the difficulties with Vietnam in particular and we will talk more on that on Report Stage. My colleague, Senator Norris, and I proposed amendments on eligibility to adopt for same-sex couples. During the course of the debate on that the Minister was open to the issue of same-sex couples and in particular to examining some way to accommodate those same-sex couples who already have children where adoption may not be the most appropriate procedure to give the child of that couple rights in respect of the non-birth parent. I hope the Minister will explore some other way, perhaps not in this Bill, to ensure the rights of children of same-sex parents are protected and that the rights and responsibilities of the non-birth parent are recognised in law. That is an important gap in our legislative system.

Another amendment I hope to make on Report Stage, which I raised a number of times on Committee Stage, is on long-term foster carers and making provision for children who are in long-term foster arrangements to ensure they have some protection beyond the minimum protection in the foster relationship in law. I am grateful to the Minister for expressing openness to examining the solution adopted in Britain in the 2002 Act, which was of special guardianship. In this country the special guardianship mechanism, which has been recommended by expert groups over a number of years, would give a facility for a more secure legal status for a child in long-term foster care short of the absolute cut-off from the birth parents that an adoption order entails. It is a different measure from adoption but it would allow a protected status for children in long-term foster care to have more security than they do now without cutting ties with their birth parents. I ask the Minister to examine that for Report Stage. There are some provisions in the Bill concerning foster carers and it would be appropriate to introduce some special guardianship through this Bill.

Many other issues were raised on Committee Stage and I will not rehash them all but I look forward to further debate on Report Stage. I thank the Minister for his openness to accept points made and agree to review issues and come back to us on Report Stage.