Irish agency opening in Vietnam to prevent illegal adoption

THE Irish Adoption Board is to set up a mediation agency in Vietnam to ensure that couples here do not get unwittingly involved in Tristan Dowse-style illegal adoptions in the Far East.

The not-for-profit registered organisation will begin its work in Vietnam shortly.

Its existence should ensure illegal adoptions to Ireland cannot take place in that country as couples will avoid having to contact unscrupulous ‘middle men’ or baby brokers.

The long-term plan is to set up similar agencies “on the ground” in all countries with which the adoption board has an inter-country adoption agreement.

Vietnam remains one of the most popular destinations for Irish couples seeking to adopt from abroad. At least 50 adoptions from Vietnam take place each year.

Russia, however, is by far the most popular country for prospective adoptive parents with 189 Russian adoption entries made on the Register of Foreign Adoptions in 2004.

Tristan Dowse was taken from his Indonesian mother, Suryani, five years ago shortly after she gave birth. The mother claimed she was intimidated into the handover by a local ‘baby broker’, most of whom make vast sums of money organising such illegal adoptions.

A national outcry followed last year when it emerged that his Irish adopted parents dumped him in an orphanage two years later claiming the adoption “didn’t work out”.

This week, the High Court ruled that the couple will have to pay €350 per week maintenance for the five-year-old child, an immediate lump sum of €20,000 and another sum of €25,000 when he turns 18. Tristan will also retain his inheritance rights despite being reunited with his mother in Java.

The Department of Children confirmed it is drafting legislation to ratify the Hague Convention which provides safeguards to prevent the abduction or the sale of children for the adoption market. It also establishes a system of co-operation among countries in order to ensure that inter-country adoptions take place in the best interests of the children concerned.

Once the legislation is enacted, prospective adoptive parents will only be able to adopt from other countries which have ratified the convention. Ireland signed the convention 13 years ago but work on the legislation only began in recent months.

Up to 470 applications of suitability and eligibility were approved for Irish parents last year.

Adoption Board chief executive John Collins said the eventual enactment into Irish law of the Hague Convention and the development of mediation agencies worldwide should ensure “the best possible standards” for inter-country adoption.