Florida adoption ‘ethics’ warning

Just months before Ireland signed an adoption agreement with the US, the Adoption Authority (AAI) admitted there were wide ranging “difficulties” with the “practice and ethics” of adoptions from Florida.

Responding to concerns from social workers, Celia Loftus, the AAI’s principal social worker, acknowledged “a number of ethical issues” in relation to adopting from Florida.

Principle among these was that domestic adoption was not used when available in Florida, a key requirement of the Hague Convention which Ireland ratified in 2010, and that the adoptive parents were chosen by the natural mother while she was still pregnant.