Rights of child move could pave way for adoptions

CHANGES to the Constitution which would enshrine the rights of the child would also cease discrimination on grounds of parents’ marital status and open the way for thousands of children in the care system to be adopted.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children published its proposed wording yesterday, with some Committee members asking for a referendum on the issue to be held as early as this summer.

The third and final report published by the Joint Committee includes recommendations that would allow the children of a married couple to be adopted by another family, and also states that the threshold for state intervention is identical for children of marital and non-marital families.