Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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166. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will address the issue of birth parents having to adopt their own natural children, as the Adoption Authority/State has no provision for step-parent adoptions (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38960/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the anomalies with respect to adoption by step-parents and am examining how to address these issues including the requirement, as part of step-parent adoption, for a natural parent to 'adopt' their own child and the creation of a new birth certificate recognising the newly-adoptive parents and possibly removing the recognition of a birth parent.

These provisions first originated in the 1952 Adoption Act and were further consolidated in the Adoption Act, 2010.

I have sought clarification on the constitutional and legal position with respect to step-parent adoption and I am confident, based on the legal advices received, that there are no constitutional barriers to legislative change in this area. There are a number of complex legal and policy issues which would need to be resolved within the broader framework of family law relating to parentage and guardianship.