Plan proposes to speed up foreign adoptions

The process for adopting foreign children could be speeded up by the Minister for Children, who is currently examining plans to outsource responsibility for the practice from the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Radical new proposals to be put forward by the International Adoption Agency (IAA), an Irish-based, non-profit organisation, are to be considered by Barry Andrews, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in the coming weeks.

The proposals, which are set to be lodged by the end of the month, propose the establishment of an intermediary agency that would be responsible for processing adoption applications and issuing post placement reports.

Its CEO, Shane Downer said: “There are issues around adoption that we need to find a solution to. We plan to submit a proposal for an independent, not-for-profit agency which could speed up adoption applications.”

Mr Downey said the current adoption process “takes far too long”.

“Many people in Cork, as in Dublin, are waiting four to five years before they receive a referral for adoption, and up to three years before they can even get their application processed,” he said.

The HSE currently carries out post placement reports. However, Russian authorities recently advised adoption officials not to accept adoption orders from a number of Irish agencies, who they claim are delaying the return of these vital reports on children who have been adopted there.

This has left hundreds of children and their prospective parents in limbo for an indefinite period.

Meanwhile, according to the IAA, prospective adoptive parents in Ireland may now face even further delays over Russian adoptions unless a bilateral agreement is entered into.

New adoption legislation to be published here shortly could greatly limit the choices of aspiring adoptive parents. The new bill will give legal force to the Hague Convention, an agreement designed to protect children, birth parents and adoptive parents from dubious adoption practices.

From that time, adoptions will only be authorised from countries that are signatories to the convention or which have a bilateral adoption agreement with Ireland.

The overwhelming majority of children adopted to Ireland from abroad come from Russia or Vietnam, neither of which has ratified the Hague Convention. A bilateral adoption agreement which existed between Ireland and Vietnam has run out since May 1 and no such pact is in place with Russia, which could be closed off for adoptions once the Convention comes into force.

A statement from the office of the Minster for Children and Youth Affairs said it was looking at the possibility of entering a bilateral agreement with a number of countries.

Article courtesy of the Evening Echo newspaper.