Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 24:

In page 36, after line 14, to insert the following:“Amendment of Adoption Act 2010
31. Section 89 of the Adoption Act 2010 is amended in subsection (2) to now read “A certificate referred to in subsection (1) must disclose that the person to whom the certificate relates is an adopted person.”.

I thank the Minister’s officials for dealing with several issues I raised on Second Stage on this matter and for the comprehensive replies from them.
This proposes an amendment to the Adoption Act 2010. I thank my colleagues, Senators Fiach Mac Conghail, Marie-Louise O'Donnell, Katherine Zappone and Mary Ann O'Brien, for supporting this amendment. I have been in contact with the Minister of State and his officials over the past several days on this matter. I thank them for their co-operation. I also want to thank Treoir which raised this issue with me, as well as other individuals.
Prior to the 2010 adoption legislation, an adopted person applying for a birth certificate would receive it from the adopted children’s register, clearly indicating he or she was adopted. In 2010, it was provided that the State may not disclose that somebody was adopted. While I accept we will discuss the right to identity when we debate the information and tracing legislation, the right to know one was adopted is absolutely core to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Article 8 states:

States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognised by law without unlawful interference.
Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.

The time a child learns he or she is adopted should never be an issue; they should always know. It is a fact and they should grow up with knowing it, instead of adding any stigma to it. If the family of a 14 year old apply for his birth certificate for a passport application, for example, it will not appear on the certificate that he was adopted. What about the case of people who discover they were adopted through applying for their original birth certificate, however? It would be a failure on the part of the State that it covered up such a fact. There should be no stigma about adoption.
Why are we making it the case with this cover-up? We have a shameful enough past with adoption and we still have a long way to go in dealing with it. A child being adopted in Ireland today is still denied the right to his or her identity. We still have a closed adoption system. The situation for Philomena Lee is still in place and we still cover up. An adopted child has no right to ever know who his or her natural born parents are. We should, at the very least, give a signal from the civil registration legislation that an adopted child has the right to know his or her identity. There are many other reasons an adopted person needs to know his or her parents such as genetic medical conditions and so forth.
I have dealt with several cases since the 2010 Act came into place. It does not need to be in headlights. However, it is important the birth certificate lists that the parents listed are adopted parents in such cases. This anomaly must be addressed. I accept the original provision in the 2010 Act was introduced with good intentions but the unintended consequences were overlooked. It is important that adopted people know for sure if they were adopted. There must be some way to note it discreetly while asserting there is no stigma to being adopted.