Tristan parents may have to pay for upkeep

THE Government will seek to compel the adoptive parents of a young boy whom they left in an Indonesian orphanage to pay for his maintenance and upkeep over the past two years.

Four-year-old Tristan Dowse was adopted by Irishman Joe Dowse and his Azerbaijani wife, Lala, in 2001 when he was two months old. The couple returned the child to the orphanage in Indonesia two years later on the grounds that the adoption was “not working out”. They claimed that they had had difficulties bonding with Tristan, then aged two.

The case first came into the public domain in April this year, though it subsequently emerged that Irish authorities had been aware of it for over a year.

Attorney General Rory Brady has initiated High Court proceedings to deregister the Irish adoption. Tristan cannot be offered for adoption by the Indonesian authorities until the Irish adoption registration is nullified.

Mr Brady will also seek an application to the court compelling the Dowses to pay for maintenance and expenses, possibly by means of an attachment to their earnings.

Joe and Lala Dowse were not present for a preliminary hearing last week and, reportedly, neither will be present when the main hearing opens in October.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern has taken a personal interest in the case and, according to his officials, wants the status of Tristan determined as quickly as possible in the interest of the child.

Last week, the head of the department’s legal department travelled to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to meet with the authorities there and to ascertain what legal issues need to be determined.