Adoption bill gets Seanad support

Senator Averil Power (FF) has expressed delight after her bill to give all adoptees a right to their birth certs was unanimously passed in the Seanad last week.

The Adoption (Identity and Information Bill) will now have to go through three more stages in the Dail before it is passed into law.

Under the bill:

?¢ All adoptees will have a right to their birth certs, listing their original names and their parents’ names;

?¢ Natural parents can request information about their adopted sons or daughters; and

?¢ Adoptees and their parents can choose whether they are happy to have their current contact details released to each other.

The bill was proposed by Senator Power and co-sponsored by Senators Jillian van Turnhout and Fidelma Healy Eames.

Senator Power, who was adopted as a baby, said she was

“thrilled

? that the bill received the unanimous support of the Seanad.

She also urged Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, James Reilly, who did not oppose the bill in the Seanad, to progress it through the Dáil as soon as possible.

“For too long adopted people have been robbed of our identities, denied basic information about ourselves and our parents that others take for granted,

? Senator Power told Northside People.

“Thousands of Irish adoptees don’t know their original names, who their parents are or even if there is a serious illness that runs in their family.

“Not knowing is a source of great pain and anxiety. Our bill is designed to change this. It will also assist natural parents who would like to reunite with their adopted sons or daughters.

?

Senator Power, from Bayside, said many women were forced to put their babies up for adoption and have spent years wondering if they are okay.

“Some, like Philomena Lee, have tried to trace them but have been denied information by the State,

? she added.