Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

From my experience, I would say that in practice the decision on who may adopt a child is primarily that of the birth mother. That is the reality of the situation at the moment. I think Senator Norris referred to that point. The birth mother has extensive information on prospective adopters. That is the absolute best practice and that is what happens before she gives her consent. If anything was to develop that she did not like, she would have the opportunity to withdraw her consent as well. If, for example, the child is going to somebody with whom she is not happy, there is a period within which she can withdraw consent. It is important to remember that.

There is no doubt that the mother's decision making includes everything that is of relevance to those who propose to adopt. The birth mother looks at the whole range of factors made available to her about the couple who want to adopt. She would be told details about their lives in general, their gender and whether they are married or single. That is the current practice. In the selection and matching process for domestic adoption in this country, significant consideration is given to the views and wishes of the birth mother in terms of what type of family she wants her child to be raised in. The preferred approach to matching and selection of prospective parents is collaborative with the birth mother and the accredited body, namely, the Child and Family Agency. The aim is to find the best placement available to meet the needs of the child. In fact, there is very little conflict evident in that regard from the statistics to date on adoptions under the 2010 Act. There has not been any disagreement between a birth mother and the agency on the choice of prospective adopters.

The child's best interests are the paramount consideration, and being in compliance with Hague Convention standards. The ultimate responsibility for the decisions taken in the matching process for children in the adoption process lies with the teams of professional workers managing the adoption services working with the birth mother. The birth mother is assisted to reflect on her wishes and views in regard to the kind of parenting experience she thinks her child will get from the family, the socioeconomic background, the willingness to meet birth parents prior to placement and, increasingly, after placement. As we move towards more open adoption, issues that are considered include sport, community involvement, urban versus rural factors, similarities to her personal social circumstances, religion, health, age, race and culture, and ability to care for the child on a one-to-one basis at home. A mother is given the choice of a number of placements, usually between three and five. Huge consideration and attention is given to what the birth mother wants. The applicant profile information that a mother is given is non-identifying, unless it is a more open adoption situation.

I do not think it is justified to insert an additional criterion in law when the current practice is already working effectively and is already involving the birth mother appropriately in the selection process. I just do not think it is necessary. There is no need to add it in as an extra criterion, as it is there and one still has the huge consideration of the best interests of the child. The primary and overriding consideration in determining whether an adoption should be facilitated is whether, as many Senators have said, the adoption serves to advance the welfare of the child. The is the guiding principle. I do not agree that adoption should be determined through a process in which there would be a hierarchy of preferred family types, as outlined by Senator Walsh, with opposite-sex couples being given preference. The reason I say that is because adoption is a child welfare mechanism and therefore that is what should be at the centre. Decisions on the suitability of potential adopters are not taken on the basis of one criterion, namely, the relationship status of the adopters. What is important is the broad outline and suitability of the potential adopters to address the needs of the child and to provide the child with a loving and stable home. One does not take out one aspect of a person's life and make a decision in regard to that. One looks at all of the issues and one does not establish a hierarchy of family types because that could preclude considering what is in the best interests of the child. The primary and overriding consideration is advancing the welfare of the child.

I have checked with the Adoption Authority of Ireland and I am aware from my own experience as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs of the kind of criteria that are used for assessment. Following an assessment by Tusla, adopters must be deemed to be suitable to have parental rights and duties in respect of a child. They must be of good moral character and must be in good health and of an age at which they have a reasonable expectation of caring for and supporting the child appropriately throughout his or her childhood, and obviously adequate financial means. Huge consideration is given to the views and wishes of the birth mother as to the kind of family she wants. That is very important. The process is collaborative. The current process is much more suitable for the achievement of the primary objective of safeguarding a child's welfare than one that focuses on relationship status. I would not wish to move to a situation in which we had the hierarchy that is suggested.

I refer Members to some very interesting research on this issue by Professor Susan Golombok from Cambridge. She has published very widely on how children fare in same-sex families. In fact, she found no difference in the adjustment of children adopted by gay fathers, lesbian mothers or heterosexual parents. She found extremely positive parenting by gay fathers, for example. Senator Averil Power made the point a number of times that the research shows that it is the quality of the relationship between the child and the parents that is most predictive of good outcomes for children and, therefore, it is important to keep the focus wide in terms of assessing criteria for children. There could be lots of different situations where one particular family type or another might be the choice of the birth mother, depending on her own preference, experience and status. That is something on which nobody has commented, but it is important to keep that in mind as well. The wishes of the mother are very important but adoption decisions are primarily about child welfare and making the best decision for the child. I do not think it is essential to make such a change, and one would not do it based on the research and also from an equality perspective or any of the criteria from the point of view of meeting Hague Convention standards and in relation to the ECHR.