Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will outline her policy in relation to open and closed adoptions; if he will detail the relevant guidelines and protocols which advise authorities in this regard; the effect the upcoming Children's Referendum and associated Adoption Bill will have on these protocols; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43458/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Under Adoption legislation, all domestic and inter country adoptions registered in Ireland are what are referred to as "closed adoptions".

An "open adoption", whereby some level of ongoing contact is maintained between the natural family, usually the mother, and the child, is not currently provided for in Irish legislation.

The upcoming Children's Referendum and associated draft Adoption Bill will address the inequalities that exist in adoption law today in relation to the marital status of parents of children and adoption, and the adoption of children in long term care who have been abandoned by their parents.