Arc is first group cleared to work as adoption mediation agency

ARC Adoption has become the first agency accredited to operate as an adoption mediation agency under the Adoption Act.

The agency, which is headed up by Shane Downer, the former head of the International Adoption Association, will provide assistance to prospective parents seeking to adopt from abroad.

Under the act, which was passed in November of last year, Irish people can only adopt children from a Hague Convention country or from a country with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement.