Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position of parents seeking to adopt a child through one of the adoption agencies (details supplied) whose legal status now appears uncertain. [42537/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Firstly I want to emphasise that the contention included in recent media coverage on this matter that adoption agencies, babies in hospital or in care and prospective adoptive parents will be "left in limbo" as a result of the Adoption Act 2010 is incorrect, nor is there any doubt about the legal status of agencies.

Accredited bodies - organisations delivering adoption services - must comply with the terms of the 2010 Act. This legislation ends the practice whereby a single adoption agency could provide the full range of adoption services, from pre-birth counselling to post birth placement with prospective parents. This was a very clear policy decision taken to avoid the obvious conflicts that could arise. This decision was communicated to the agencies involved on several occasions over the course of the past 12 months. Each agency needs to decide what services it wishes to deliver and apply to the Adoption Authority for accreditation.

The HSE already provides a wide range of adoption services and can if necessary take over cases if an agency decides not to deliver the particular service involved. I can assure the House that any hand-over that might arise will be handled sensitively and that no-one will be left without service, nor will anyone have to go back to the beginning of the process.