Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 253: To ask the Minister for Health and Children further to Parliamentary Question No. 303 of 16 September 2009, if she will confirm that following receipt of the two reports referred to that she will sign a new bilateral agreement with Vietnam; when she expects this matter to be finalised; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34824/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In late August, I was made aware of two significant reports regarding child welfare, protection and adoption in Vietnam. The issues referred to in these two reports are of concern to the Government especially since they confirm anecdotal reports that have been aired in the past. Firstly, the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, with technical assistance from UNICEF in Vietnam, published a report known as the 'MoLISA Report' entitled "Creating a protective environment for children in Vietnam: An assessment of child protection laws and policies, especially children in special circumstances in Vietnam". The MoLISA report found that, inter alia:

there are no detailed principles or criteria to guide the assessment in Vietnam of prospective guardians, foster parents or substitute families for orphans;

there is no framework for the systematic, professional assessment of orphans and abandoned children to determine what type of placement would be in their best interest, and to ensure that they are matched with the most appropriate alternative family;

there is no clear requirement that decisions about alternative care be based on the child's best interest;

there is no clear statement in law that international adoptions shall be used only as a last resort, once all options for placement within the country have been considered;

there are no systematic procedures for ensuring that all efforts are made to find a suitable domestic family before consideration of international options;

there is no requirement that birth parents be given counselling and be clearly informed of the consequences of adoption prior to giving consent;

The Report contains a series of recommendations including, the need to:

reform the institutional care of orphaned and abandoned children in Vietnam;

provide counselling to birth parents prior to giving consent to adoption;

intensify preparations for accession to the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption;

centralise authority to consider and approve inter-country adoptions, and

stipulate that international adoptions may be considered only after all other options have been explored and, also, that the child cannot be placed into foster care or with a family or cannot, in any suitable manner, be cared for in Vietnam.

In addition to the MoLISA Report, I have recently received, in draft form, the report of an examination of inter-country adoption in Vietnam carried out by the International Social Services (ISS) – a UN-affiliated organisation. The Report was jointly commissioned by UNICEF and the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice and seeks, inter alia, to "identify and address problems in both domestic and inter-country adoption processes with a view to assisting Vietnam in its preparations to ratify the Hague Convention". I will be considering these two reports jointly. These reports go to the heart of the matter in relation to concerns relating to inter-country adoption in Vietnam. I would be failing in my duty to protect children if I did not acknowledge and consider the content of these reports extremely carefully before deciding on an appropriate response.