asked the Minister for Health if the proposed new Children Bill which is being prepared in his Department will deal with the law of adoption and introduce many badly needed reforms in our adoption laws and adoption service.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Children Bill.
17.
I have established a special committee to examine the laws and procedures in relation to adoption and to make recommendations for their improvement or amendment as considered necessary.
I cannot at this stage say whether any statutory amendments found desirable will be provided for in the Children Bill or in separate legislation, but in any event I can assure the Deputy that I shall deal expeditiously with the matter. It may be that the work of the adoption committee will be completed in time to include their recommendations in the Bill.
When is it anticipated that the Children Bill will be introduced and circulated?
In the autumn session of this year.
With reference to the adoption committee who were appointed by the Minister, would he accept that there are a number of reforms needed in the area of adoption, that there is widespread public acceptance for changes within professional organisations involving social workers, for instance, and in the adoption system generally? Would the Minister not agree that the type of reforms required should form part and parcel of the Children Bill, regardless of the time that will elapse before the adoption committee complete their work?
In setting up the review committee on adoption law and on standards of adoption societies and so on, I indicated that I wanted a report not later than the end of the year. If their report is available in, say, November or December and provided that no major constitutional changes will be involved in whatever proposals may emerge, I would incorporate the committee's views in the new Children Bill. I am entirely open minded on the matter. It would be my preference to incorporate a general review of adoption within the Children Bill, rather than having continuous and separate legislation in this area.
I am allowing a final supplementary on this question.
Having regard to the fact that there are more than 1,000 legitimate children in care and without any possibility of being returned to their natural parents, is it not a matter of urgency that the adoption laws be amended to provide for the adoption of such children? Can the Minister give the House any undertaking in this regard? Will the Children Bill deal with this matter? I would remind the Minister that when the task force on child care were appointed in 1975 they were to have completed their deliberations within a year but did not report until September 1981. Has the Minister any guarantee that the adoption committee will be able to complete their work within the time specified?
I am hopeful that that will be the case. The committee were appointed only three or four weeks ago but already have met on a number of occasions. Regarding the first part of the Deputy's question, I have very strong personal views that children who are socalled legitimate should have the opportunity of being adopted. That would be a major change but it is a change that should be made. I understand that the review committee are examining that situation currently and if they recommend that this change be made, and if the Government so design, it will be by way of a statutory reform. My own view is that the whole question of adoption should be broadened and following on that, that we would ask ourselves whether there should be adoption laws at all in that context.
18.
asked the Minister for Health whether the proposed new Children Bill which is being prepared in his Department will contain provisions to reform the law relating to fosterage.
It is intended that the Children Bill will include provisions for the updating and improvement of the laws relating to fosterage. In the meantime, I have issued new regulations, which have come into operation on 1 April, to replace the Boarding Out of Children Regulations 1954.
Is the Minister in a position to indicate whether the changes in the law relating to fosterage will specifically define the legal rights and duties both of foster parents and foster children and, in particular, define the status of foster parents about which there is considerable legal uncertainty? This has given rise to a number of difficulties in some areas.
The regulations did not extend that far. They related to a large extent to the position concerning the religion of the child.
I was speaking about the proposed Children Bill.
That aspect will be considered by the Government under the new Bill.
In relation to the position of foster parents, when drafting the new Children Bill I would ask the Minister to ensure that it contains a clause relating to the position of foster parents when they seek passports for foster children. This matter is causing considerable difficulty for many foster parents who have children placed with them for long-term fosterage. The foster parents experience enormous difficulties in obtaining passports to take the children for a holiday of two to three weeks outside the jurisdiction. Pending publication of the Bill, I ask the Minister to look into this matter to see if some regulations could be introduced to provide for this situation.
I will communicate with the Deputy.
The remaining questions will appear on next Tuesday's Order Paper.