Written answers

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Adoption Records Provision

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

469. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures she is taking and will take to address the current barriers which prevent adoptees trace their birth parents; if she will meet with advocacy and campaign groups Adoption Rights Alliance and Adoption Rights Now; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44460/13]

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

470. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures she is taking and will take to address the current barriers that prevent adoptees tracing their birth parents; the steps now open to a person (details supplied) to meet their birth mother; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44478/13]

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

473. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the adoption and tracing legislation will be published; the extent to which the legislation will ensure access to birth certificates for those adopted; if the rights granted to adopted persons will be aligned with those rights afforded to those in Northern Ireland, North Wales, Scotland, England and various countries, within this legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44704/13]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 469, 470 and 473 together.

Work is continuing in relation to the preparation of the Heads of Bill of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. My view is that persons affected by adoption should be provided with a statutory right to as much information as possible within permissible Constitutional boundaries. I am anxious to bring the Heads of bill before Government at the earliest possible date. The constitutional and legal context within which the development of these legislative proposals must be undertaken is complex.

It is intended that the Bill will provide for the Adoption Authority to be responsible for providing access to adoption records, in accordance with the provisions of the Bill. The Bill will provide for the Adoption Authority to establish and maintain a National Index of Adoption Records, the purpose of which is to help an applicant for adoption information identify the location of his or her adoption records. The intention is that the Bill is to provide that either the Adoption Authority, the HSE or an accredited body may hold adoption records, with the Authority having overall charge of those records.

It is also intended that the Bill will provide for placing the National Contact Preference Register on a statutory basis. The purpose of the Register is to allow a person affected by adoption to enter his or her name on the Register with a view to receiving information about another person from whom he or she has been separated as a result of adoption and also to indicate a preference as to whether or not contact is being sought with that person.

A National Tracing Service will be established under the provisions of the Bill, the operation of which will be subject to guidelines to be set out in regulations. It is intended that the Tracing Service is to be made available to an adopted person, a birth parent and a relative of either an adopted person or a birth parent, and that the Adoption Authority is to have overall responsibility for providing the tracing service.

However I wish to advise that complex legal and constitutional issues have arisen during the course of preparation of the Heads of Bill and that detailed on-going consideration of these issues is under way in my Department and in the Office of the Attorney General. At this stage is it not certain that the problems that have arisen can be overcome by the introduction of legislation and further legal advice has been sought in an effort to see if legislation that meets my policy objectives can be drafted within constitutional parameters.

With regard to individual cases, information and tracing inquiries are normally dealt with by the organisation that arranged the original adoption placement. If the adoption agency has closed, the Health Service Executive Adoption Information and Tracing Service, or the agency that now holds the placement records, will deal with the inquiry. Queries in relation to the handling of a request for information and tracing should be addressed to the agency dealing with the request or the Adoption Authority as the body with responsibility for regulating accredited bodies who provide adoption services.

A representative of the Adoption Rights Alliance attended a recent meeting which I held with an individual in relation to adoption information and tracing. At this meeting I agreed to meet representatives of the Adoption Rights Alliance specifically to discuss the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill and I invited them to make a submission in this regard in advance of the meeting.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.