Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The legislation is child centred. The Child Care Act understands the concept of children's rights in the context of the rights of parents which, as we are aware, are established in the Constitution. However, the adoption process is a final break between a natural parent and a child and, as such, that process must be concluded with all due consideration. Reference was made to section 17, which includes the provision that if a father objects to a placement, the process will be suspended for a period of not less than 21 days to allow the father to apply for guardianship under the Guardianship of Infants Act. That is another safeguard and if that is unsuccessful one still has the right to apply to the High Court to determine the matter. A sufficient number of checks and balances are included in the Bill.