Michael Woods
Question:104 Dr. Woods asked the Minister for Health the difficulties which he has encountered in giving recognition to simple foreign adoptions; and the plans, if any, he has to overcome these obstacles. [17909/96]
Written Answers. - Foreign Adoptions.
Our statutory system for the recognition of foreign adoptions is confined to adoptions effected abroad which are broadly similar in their legal effect to that of an Irish adoption order in terms of the termination and creation of parental rights and duties. As a simple adoption decree does not extinguish the legal relationship between the child and his or her birth parent(s), it is not possible to recognise them. To do otherwise would be to accord such an adoption a legal status beyond that which it was intended to have in the country where it was granted and, in particular, beyond that which the birth parent(s) of the child would have understood when giving consent to the making of the simple adoption decree.
I am aware of the practical difficulties which Irish residents who have been granted simple adoption decrees abroad are encountering. Since the issues involved relate to a number of areas of Government, I am arranging to have them considered at a forthcoming meeting of the Cabinet committee on children.