Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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56. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps she will take to reach out to the thousands of Irish persons illegally adopted to families in the US in order to give them access to the records containing their identities, in view of the fact that this is not being provided for in forthcoming legislation in the Adoption (Information and Tracing Bill) 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14779/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill was published on 25th November 2016 and it provides a statutory basis for the provision of information related to both past and future adoptions. The Bill is intended to facilitate access to adoption information and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible. It provides clarity around the information that can be provided and the circumstances in which it can be provided to those affected by adoption. The definition of an adopted person in the Bill is as follows:

“adopted person” means a person -

(a) adopted under an adoption order,

(b) born in the State and placed for adoption outside the State by An Bord Uchtála, a person who was at the time a registered adoption society, the Authority or the Agency, and whose adoption was effected outside the State, or

(c) otherwise adopted in accordance with the law in force in the State at the time of that adoption;

Irish children who were adopted in Ireland and then went to USA are included in a) above while Irish children whose adoptions were finalised abroad, be that for example the USA or UK, are included in b) above. The definition of adopted person in the Bill was drafted so as to ensure service provision in all historic adoptions where a child was placed and brought up outside the State primarily in the USA. All persons affected by these adoptions will be entitled to the service provision under Part 4 and 5 of the Adoption (Information and tracing ) Bill 2016.

There will be an information campaign for six months following commencement of the Act to publicise the provisions of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. Tusla will liaise with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to identify the methods of maximising contact with persons outside of the State affected by Irish adoptions through media outlets, social media and other appropriate methods.