LRC urges pre-adoptive counselling for immigrant mothers

MOTHERS who do not speak English and place their child up for adoption should be given pre-adoptive counselling, a law reform report recommended yesterday.

Following the Tristan Dowse scandal, the Law Reform Commission (LRC) examined the issue of inter-country adoptions.

Tristan became known nationwide two years ago when it emerged that in 2001, Wicklow man Joe Dowse and his wife adopted the two-month-old Indonesian. Two years later, they decided the adoption wasn’t “working out” and left him in an orphanage in Jakarta.

The Attorney General took on the case. The courts decided, after Tristan was reunited with his birth mother, that the Dowses had failed their duties. The adoption registration was cancelled, the Dowses ordered to provide for the boy and his Irish citizenship was upheld.

The law review yesterday highlighted the AG’s role, noting that if a similar case arose in future he was the most appropriate officer to protect the rights of a child, even if the case was heard in another jurisdiction.

LRC members also noted the issue of immigrant mothers in Ireland giving their child up for adoption, which is considered inter-country adoption. Initial research recommends the Adoption Board here should provide pre-adoptive counselling. Also, “supports should be administered with particular reference to natural mothers who are not Irish citizens and do not understand the English language”, the report said.

“Anecdotal information suggests that this is becoming an issue. There is an issue about translation, are there translation facilities available. Do the women really understand they are giving up their child for permanent adoption?”

Members of the commission also advise that the Adoption Board should prepare guidelines about the validity of documents from foreign countries.