Adoption review granted

A COUPLE who adopted a child in Ethiopia have sought a court order requiring the Irish adoption board to legally register her here.

The couple, who cannot be named to protect the child, claim the adoption board, An Bord Uchtála, has breached their constitutional and human rights by refusing to put the child’s name on the Register of Foreign Adoptions.

This must be done most importantly so they can give permission for the child to receive medical treatment as she suffers from a hole in her heart, the High Court heard yesterday.

Mr Justice Michael Peart granted the couple permission to seek a judicial review of the adoption board’s refusal to enter the child’s name on the register here and an order she is eligible under Irish law to be registered here.

The court heard the couple complied with all adoption requirements under Ethiopian law but could not provide the adoption board here with the child’s exact date of birth, not considered something of significance in Ethiopian culture. The couple were subsequently advised that because “unspecified legal difficulties” in the foreign adoption process, no new entry would be made on the register until the legal situation was clarified.