Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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176. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide an update on applications for approval of adoptions from Russia (details supplied). [39036/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The HSE advises that as of the 1st of March 2013 the number of Declarations of Eligibility and Suitability (DES) issued under Section 63 of the Act which were still to be acted upon was 370. In March the HSE wrote to these Section 63 DES holders to invite them to apply for an assessment as part of the application for a DES which would be issued under Section 40 of the Act, and 161 of these applicants applied. The Adoption Authority advises that a further 35 registrations of adoptions have been made from 1 March to 10 September 2013, with a further 4 applications to register on hand. Accordingly, there is a balance of 170 holders of Section 63 DES. While a number of applicants may no longer be interested in continuing the intercountry adoption process for a variety of reasons, a portion of these 170 outstanding DES holders may be in the process of trying to finalise adoptions.

I have been advised that a very small number of applicants intending to adopt from Russia are currently at a late stage in the process of finalising adoptions from Russia.