Adoption Bill concerns raised

A NORTHSIDE senator has expressed concern about some aspects of the Government’s new adoption bill published last week.

Earlier this year Senator Averil Power (Ind), who was adopted as a baby, published a bill to give all adoptees a right to their birth certificates which was passed by the Seanad.

The new proposal includes a contact preference mechanism that will operate alongside an undertaking by adopted persons not to contact his/her birth parents.

There will be an initial period of one year after commencement of the General Scheme and Heads of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill for an awareness campaign. The campaign will publicise the provisions of the bill and allow birth parents to indicate on the Register if they want

“No contact at present

? or otherwise, before the adopted person will have a statutory entitlement to their birth certificate under these provisions.

Senator Power said she welcomed the Government’s decision to follow through on her bill by legislating for adoptees to have a right to their birth certs. She said she agreed that a natural parent’s current contact details should only be released with their consent.

“However, I do not accept there are any situations in which an adopted person should be refused access to the basic information in their birth certificate,

? she stated.

Senator Power said she was also concerned that adoptees would only be able to get their birth certs after they sign a statutory declaration agreeing to respect their parent(s)’ wishes regarding contact.

“This condition has been criticised by groups representing both natural mothers and adopted adults,

? she said.

“It is unnecessary and offensive. It seems to be based on a negative assumption that adoptees are irrational and insensitive and would wish to push themselves into their parents’ lives. That is simply not the case.

?

Senator Power said that while many adopted people may be disappointed their parents don’t wish to have contact, they would respect their wishes.

“If problems arise in a small number of cases these can be dealt with under our existing harassment laws,

? she added.

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Dr James Reilly, who published the bill, said it marks a major breakthrough in dealing with the complex challenge of providing a statutory entitlement to identity information for adopted persons.

“In drafting the legislation we faced a particular challenge in the attempt to reconcile an adopted person’s request for information about his or her identity with the right to privacy of his or her birth parent,

? said Minister Reilly.

“We recognised that adopted persons are a unique part of this process and the information that they are seeking is about their own identity.

“A birth certificate is an important piece of identifying information that is shared by an adopted person and his/her birth parents.

“We are distinguishing it from other identifying information which can be more readily characterised as belonging to one or the other.

?

Minister Reilly said that while the bill is about providing a right to information, it is critical that birth parents’ constitutional right to privacy is protected.

“I believe that by allowing birth parents an opportunity to specify the extent of contact, if any, in addition to the other safeguards to be put in place will ensure that this important right is protected,

? he stated.

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton welcomed the bill.

“For many years, adoption in Ireland happened very much in the shadows, with little or no regulation and great secrecy,

? said Minister Burton.

“Children were put up for adoption, often against the will of the mother, usually under the auspices of religious bodies, and without legal protection for them or their adoptive parents.

“The birth mother was told that her identity would be kept secret and would never be disclosed to her child, or anyone else.

“As an adopted person myself who discovered the true identity of my parents only after an exhaustive and deeply emotional search in the late 1990s, by which time they were dead, I always thought that this was grievously wrong.

?

Minister Burton said the bill was a very important step in

“remedying this situation

?.