Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 129: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will provide a detailed account of the commitment given to forward post-placement reports to the Russian Ministry of Education and Science in relation to adoptions from the Russian Federation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20123/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Regions from within more than a dozen countries, including Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom and France were recently "blacklisted" by the Russian Ministry of Education, thus suspending referrals for adoption. The issue as it pertains to Ireland relates to the provision of Post Placement Reports by adoptive parents. When adopting from Russia, adoptive parents agree to complete a series of post placement reports on the child. These reports are lodged by the adoptive parents with the Russian authorities. This is an administrative arrangement as part of the Russian adoption process and is not a legal requirement. While neither the Adoption Board nor the HSE have a statutory function in relation to the provision of the reports, they facilitate the preparation of same.

The issue arose previously, in 2009, and was resolved to the satisfaction of the Russian authorities. I was surprised to learn of this latest problem as there had been recent positive feedback from the Russian authorities and there was no indication that there was to be a suspension of adoptions for Irish applicants.

Once I became aware of the problem, contact was immediately made with the Russian Embassy in Dublin to confirm the suspension of adoption activity and to seek the Embassy's assistance in identifying all outstanding reports. A list of cases where reports were considered to be outstanding was supplied by the Russian Embassy and has since been examined in detail by the HSE and the Adoption Board. It was established, and accepted by the Russian Embassy, that more than half of the reports listed by the Russian authorities as outstanding had, in fact, been previously completed by the adoptive parents and forwarded to the Russian authorities. The majority of the remaining reports had previously been completed by the HSE and are currently with the adoptive parents. In a small number of cases, adoptive parents have not engaged with the HSE, thus preventing the completion of reports. I met with diplomats from the Russian Embassy recently in order to review the position and with a view to re-opening the adoption process for Irish applicants. I am awaiting a response from the Russian Embassy on the matter.

I am very aware of the anxiety experienced by those who are waiting to adopt from Russia as a result of this issue. Parents who have already adopted from Russia are being encouraged by the health authorities to provide any outstanding information to the Russian Government in a timely fashion .