Facilitators of illegal adoptions may receive amnesty

An amnesty from prosecution for those involved in facilitating illegal adoptions has been suggested by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission.

In its second interim report, the Commission briefly highlights that illegal adoptions covered a wide variety of actions but focuses exclusively on the issue of illegal birth registrations. This is where a child was registered as the natural child of the adoptive parents and, in most cases, an adoption order never occurred.

The report notes an amnesty from prosecution may help “to encourage those responsible to come forward and correct the record”.