Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 552: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will explain the inconsistencies that exist in different Health Service Executive areas here in terms of waiting times for assessment and preparation courses for inter-country adoption; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38802/09]

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 553: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the reason the process of inter-country adoption here as a receiving country is one of the longest processes for inter-country adoption in Europe. [38803/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 552 and 553 together.

I acknowledge that people applying for inter-country adoption are experiencing delays in waiting times for assessment. Requests for assessment for inter-country adoption are continuously increasing. Ireland has one of the highest rates for inter-country adoption in Europe. When an inquiry 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 four weeks. Applicants wait an average of 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. Assessment involves a number of stages and generally includes an initial assessment; a considerable level of education and 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 deemed 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 whether 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 inquiries were invited to these information meetings and 300 new applications were made. 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 considered less suitable are fully informed before proceeding.

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 to protect prospective adoptive parents. Further, the Adoption Bill 2009, which is designed to give force of law to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, has passed through the Seanad and is scheduled to be debated in Dáil Éireann in the current Dáil session. The new legislation, which incorporates the provisions of the Hague Convention, is designed to provide a framework to ensure that appropriate procedures have been followed and that all adoptions are effected in the best interests of the child. Future intercountry adoption arrangements will be governed by the terms of the Adoption Bill 2009 when enacted. The Health Service Executive is responsible for the assessments of applicants for adoption. This service is provided by the social work service of the executive. As the social work service also has responsibility for child welfare and protection services in Ireland, urgent crisis work and adoption assessments have to be balanced out in terms of prioritisation. I have asked the Health Service Executive to do everything possible to reduce waiting times and assessment times for prospective adopters which are excessively long at present.

Question No. 554 answered with Question No. 443.