James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 263: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the waiting times for persons waiting to be assessed by the Health Service Executive for assessment for suitability to be adoptive parents; the provisions in place to deal with those waiting for these assessments; her plans to upgrade the service and to provide additional staff to help reduce current waiting times; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29572/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge that persons applying for inter-country adoption are experiencing delays as regards waiting times for assessment. Requests for assessment for inter-country adoption are continuously increasing and Ireland currently has one of the highest rates for inter-country adoption in Europe.

When an enquiry is received by the Health Service Executive regarding an application for inter-country adoption, the prospective applicants are invited to attend an information meeting within 4 weeks. Applicants currently wait 20 months before their application is activated. Section 8(1) of the Adoption Act, 1991, provides that a Health Board shall carry out an assessment, whenever so requested and as soon as practicable, of a person or persons intending to adopt from abroad. No such right to an assessment exists with respect to domestic adoption.

Assessment involves a number of stages and would generally include an initial assessment, a considerable level of education/preparation work (including an exploration with prospective adoptive parents of the challenges and issues that are likely to arise when undertaking adoption) and a home study assessment. The length of the assessment process can vary between applicants depending on the particular circumstances of each case, bearing in mind at all times the best interests of the child. Applicants found to be suitable to be adoptive parents are granted a Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability by the Adoption Board and may then pursue the adoption of a child abroad with the selected sending country.

Steps are being taken to improve the process. Monthly information meetings are assisting prospective applicants in self-selecting if they are suitable adoptive parents and have resulted in reduced waiting lists. More significantly, they are ensuring that those applicants who are eligible and suitable are being given a more expedient service. In 2006, 2,450 prospective applicants who made enquiries were invited to these information meetings and 300 new applications were made, while in 2007, 1,974 prospective applicants were invited and 275 new applications were made. In 2008, 1,083 prospective applicants were invited and 234 new applications were made.

The Health Service Executive has also introduced a nationwide system of application to reduce the waiting lists by over 35% in the coming 12 months. Under this new system, which was introduced in Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow in September, 2008, prospective applicants are invited to provide their complete pack of documentation at the point of application and these are then screened by the administration and social work teams with a view to highlighting any areas of concern as quickly as possible. This affords suitably motivated prospective applicants the opportunity to progress their application while others who are less suitable are fully informed before proceeding. The results collected in the last 10 months in the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow region point to a reduction in waiting times from the current 20 months to 11 months by June, 2010.

My Office is continuing to work to create the appropriate legislative, policy and administrative frameworks to ensure a well regulated regime of adoption. The aim is to support children for whom adoption services are devised and provided and, also, to protect prospective adoptive parents. Furthermore, the Adoption Bill, 2009, which has now passed all of the stages in the Seanad, provides for a new regime for the accreditation of a range of agencies that offer adoption services. This modernised regime more fully recognises the phenomenon of inter-country adoption and makes provision for the accreditation of agencies to provide both assessment and mediation services. Furthermore, the Bill proposes changes to the regulation of the activities, the management and the financial arrangements of such agencies. If enacted, there will be opportunity for the development of new agencies to assist in the reduction of waiting times in those areas where the waiting times are longest.