Dáil expected to amend adoption legislation

A pre-Christmas breakthrough is expected for a number of families who had feared their planned adoptions of Russian children would be prevented by international legal roadblocks.

The Dáil is scheduled to vote through legislation next Thursday which will remove an obstacle that had threatened to scupper the hopes of couples like Lisa and Michael Fennessy who had highlighted their case.

Changes to Russian law, making it incompatible with laws here, threatened to prevent the Fennessys’ planned adoption of 19-month-old Alexander who they hoped could be brought to their home in Ballyduff, Waterford, by the end of the year.

Frances Fitzgerald, the children’s minister, will seek Cabinet approval next Tuesday for an amendment to the Adoption Act 2010, which will be voted on in the Dáil on its final sitting before its Christmas break.

It’s understood five families had plans to have their adoptions from Russia completed before rules kicked in here on Oct 31, meaning couples could not adopt from countries not signed up to the Hague Convention — including Russia.

The Russian government subsequently changed its rules to extend the length of time an adoptive child is to be registered on its national adoption database from six to 12 months.

This meant the Russian authorities would only permit their adoptions to go ahead, after the Irish rules came into effect preventing the adoptions. The technical Dáil amendment will remove this anomaly.