Politicians, many of whom admitted to being heavily lobbied by prospective adoptive parents, have locked horns with children’s rights groups and the Adoption Authority over the sharp drop in children available for intercountry adoption.

It is not the job of any Adoption Authority to “scout around” for and develop foreign adoptions from other countries in order to satisfy demand from adoptive parents.

Just months before Ireland signed an adoption agreement with the US, the Adoption Authority (AAI) admitted there were wide ranging “difficulties” with the “practice and ethics” of adoptions from Florida.

A pre-Christmas breakthrough is expected for a number of families who had feared their planned adoptions of Russian children would be prevented by international legal roadblocks.

International adoption is moving from a robust but largely unmonitored process towards a smaller but better regulated system.

Standing outside the Egyptian embassy, Norma Heeney looked like she couldn’t take anymore: “Enough is enough,” she said.

Remarks by Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald that the Adoption Act is “restrictive” and may be re-examined to allow Irish couples to adopt more easily from a wider range of countries, have been labelled as “worrying”.

The statement by Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, that she is “going to consider” possible changes to the 2010 Adoption Act to make it easier for Irish couples to adopt from a wider range of countries is more than worrying.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland has refused to recognise or register 20 Mexican adoptions here, on foot of advice from Mexican authorities that they contravened the Hague Convention.

A family who has adopted a little girl from Mexico has gone to the High Court in a bid to have her adoption recognised here.

The Government needs to recognise modern fertility tourism and legislate for surrogacy, to avoid surrogate children being left abandoned, parentless, and stateless.

A new adoption agreement with Vietnam has been signed.

A new agreement to allow Irish couples to resume adopting children from Vietnam is due to be concluded this week.

The United States has said it will not resume adoptions from Vietnam as the country “does not yet have a fully Hague-compliant process in place”.

The discovery of a Mexican child trafficking ring brought questions about inter-country adoption to the fore. However, this should have happened long ago, writes Conall Ó Fátharta

Despite laws governing inter-country adoptions, questions still remain and need constant monitoring, write Dr Aisling Parkes and Dr Simone McCaughren

Eleven Irish couples caught up in an alleged adoption scam in Mexico have been left devastated by the affair, they said tonight.

Irish people will be able to adopt children from Vietnam again from next month.

MINISTER for Children Frances Fitzgerald is to visit Vietnam as part of talks aimed at establishing a safe inter-country adoption system between the south-east Asian nation and Ireland.

AN Irish delegation has arrived in Moscow to begin negotiations on a bilateral agreement with Russia to resume adoptions from the country.

AN IRISH delegation will arrive in Moscow this morning to begin negotiations on a bilateral agreement with Russia to resume adoptions from the country.

YOUR editorial (Nov 29) incorrectly states that bilateral agreements for the purposes of inter country adoption with countries such as Ethiopia have collapsed in recent years and concludes that no country should allow children to be bought and sold.

Under the Adoption Act 2010 people in Ireland can only adopt children from countries that have signed the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, or from countries with which this country has a bilateral adoption agreement.

A DELEGATION from the Adoption Authority have visited the US to examine “a number of concerns” about adoptions between Ireland and the US, in particular from Florida.

TWO boys wrongfully removed from New York to Ireland by their mother 15 months ago will not be returned to their father in the US because they expressed a clear desire to remain here and it is in their best interests to do so, the Supreme Court has ruled.

It has emerged that following discussions between the Irish and Vietnamese authorities, Vietnam is preparing to ratify the Hague Convention on inter-country Adoption.

ARC Adoption has become the first agency accredited to operate as an adoption mediation agency under the Adoption Act.

SHAUN CONNOLLY reported (May 24) that Taoiseach Kenny said that during his meeting with US President Obama that “they agreed there would be no change in respect of the US forces using Shannon Airport as a stop-off”.

SENIOR members of the Adoption Authority have met with the Children’s Minister to report on “important improvements” in Vietnam’s inter-country adoption procedures.

OFFICIALS from the Adoption Authority are to travel to Vietnam to examine if the “profound concerns” raised in a number of international reports about adoption practices in the country have been addressed.

ALTHOUGH Bulgaria has signed the Hague Convention for the Protection of Children in Intercountry Adoption (Irish Examiner, March 25)) and therefore Irish couples are within their rights under Irish law to seek adoptions from there, we fear that in the effort to find “available” children to adopt, that the principles of Hague are often forgotten about.

IRISH people may soon be allowed to adopt children from Bulgaria as talks on an administrative agreement with the eastern European country are believed to be at an “advanced” stage.

THERE must be a clear distinction between humanitarian aid and individual adoptions in any future dealing with countries involved in inter-country adoption, according to the chairman of the new Adoption Authority of Ireland, Geoffrey Shannon.

CORRUPT adoption procedures in Vietnam had reduced the country’s children to a commodity worth “less than a pig”.

THE newly passed Adoption Bill has been heavily criticised for failing to include information and tracing rights for more than 42,000 adopted people and birth parents.

A NEW adoption agency to facilitate inter-country adoptions for Irish people is scheduled to launch in September.

THE number of child abduction cases has fallen, with almost half involving Britain.

“OUR whole social history as a nation is in those files and some of it is not pretty but it’s my heritage and it’s the heritage of 42,000 other people.”

THE proposed Adoption Bill has been criticised for failing to provide the legal right to enable adopted people to trace their birth parents or obtain a range of post-adoption services.

Representatives from adoption agencies and children's charities will be meeting at the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children this morning to discuss the Adoption Bill 2009.

A FATHER waiting to adopt a child from Vietnam is to go on hunger strike outside Áras an Úachtaráin tomorrow, in protest at the Government’s delay in agreeing a bilateral agreement with the country.

The process for adopting foreign children could be speeded up by the Minister for Children, who is currently examining plans to outsource responsibility for the practice from the Health Service Executive (HSE).