Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Jun 2000

Vol. 522 No. 2

Written Answers. - Inter-Country Adoptions.

Dan Neville

Question:

227 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children the procedure for completion of inter-country adoption; if he has satisfied himself with the present system; and the plans he has to introduce procedures to speed up the adoptions. [18051/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

The Adoption Act, 1991, dealt almost entirely with the recognition of foreign adoption orders and procedures to be followed by Irish adopters. It provided that the Adoption Board would approve prospective adopters of foreign children and issue declarations of eligibility and suitability in advance of their adopting overseas. Assessments may only be carried out by a health board or registered adoption society. When an eligibility-suitability assessment report has been prepared by a health board or registered adoption society, the proposed adopters may request the agency to forward their application to the Adoption Board for a declaration of their eligibility and suitability. Where the Adoption Board makes a declaration in favour of the proposed adopters, it will forward a copy of the declaration of eligibility and suitability and the assessment report to the applicants through the assessing agency.

The assessment is based on a national standardised framework which has been developed for inter-country adoption assessment procedures. The standardised framework was developed in 1999 following a detailed study of inter-country adoption assessment procedures countrywide. While all elements are not yet fully implemented in all health boards, the key principles which guide a good assessment should be firmly established at this stage.

All social workers will shortly be working from a standard set of resource materials and all prospective adoptive couples will receive a standard workbook to help them reflect on the issues which arise in the inter-country adoption process outside of formal sessions or interviews. The process pre-adoption is divided into five stages as follows:

Stages

Initial	Applicants contact the health board or registered adoption society seeking issue of relevant forms.
Application	Application completed and forwarded to the local health board or agency and a preliminary assessment carried out.
Education/Preparation	This consists of structured group sessions organised by the health board. The course is a prerequisite for moving to the next stage.
Home Study/Assessment	A social worker carries out a series of interviews, at least one of which will be in the applicants' home. A final report is prepared by the social worker.
Decision	The assessing agency's placement committee considers the social worker's report and makes a recommendation to the Adoption Board, which decides whether to issue a declaration of eligibility or suitability on this basis.

The declaration issued by the Adoption Board has an important status as applicants are required to produce it as evidence that they have been approved for an inter-country adoption by the Irish Adoption Board in the foreign country. Once applicants have decided which country of origin they wish to adopt from, they then seek a referral for a child from that country. This can be done via the Adoption Board for certain countries, through native foundations-agencies of the foreign countries or other intermediary agencies.

The current procedures for the advance assessment of couples are in line with those set out in the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption. Adoption is a service for children. When health boards carry out an assessment of eligibility-suitability of a couple they do it on behalf of the adoptive child. It is internationally accepted best practice that the adoptive family should be recognised as being suitable, in advance of the placement of the child; and the adoptive family should have access to systematic and thorough preparation for adoption.

I am satisfied that the new framework has established an appropriate set of standards for inter-country adoption procedures in line with best international practice. As a result of the increased interest in inter-country adoption among couples, waiting times are long in many boards. Every effort is being made to reduce these waiting times as well as the time taken to complete an assessment. Additional funding in 1999 and 2000 has effectively doubled the budget for this service area. All boards are moving towards implementation of the framework model and the other recommendations contained in the report on the standardised framework. Initiatives include recruitment of additional social work and clerical-administrative staff; training for social work staff to assist in the implementation of the new framework; the improvement of IT resources and the provision of additional office space. These initiatives are aimed at building up social work staffing and maximising social work time spent on the actual assessment of applicants. While progress varies between boards, I am satisfied that efficiencies are being achieved in all boards.

The Deputy should note that the continuing rapid increase in demand is affecting the ability of boards to reduce waiting times dramatically. In addition, as I have already noted in the House, the recruitment and retention of social work staff is an ongoing difficulty in a number of board areas.

An implementation group was established to plan, prioritise and cost the implementation of the report, Towards a Standardised Framework for Inter-country Adoption Assessment Procedures. This group has nearly finished its work and advised that a report on progress will be made available to me this week. I understand this report will contain,inter alia, a comprehensive outline of developments arising from the implementation of the standardised framework as well as findings and recommendations on the future of the inter-country adoption service.

Dan Neville

Question:

228 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will state the waiting list for assessment for inter-country adoption in each of the health board areas. [18052/00]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin)

Inter-country adoption services are being carefully monitored in all board areas since the publication of the report, Towards A Standardised Framework of Intercountry Adoption Assessment Procedures. The table below shows waiting lists as advised by boards-agencies at the end of March 2000. Data for the end of the second quarter is being collated and will be available shortly. Details of the more current situation will be made available to the Deputy as soon as they have been compiled.

Number of applications awaiting assessment at 31 March, 2000

	First assessment	Second/Subsequent assessment	Total
E.R.H.A.	492	83	575
M.H.B.	40	0	40
M.W.H.B.	52	7	59
N.E.H.B.	44	2	46
N.W.H.B.	50	5	55
S.E.H.B.	93	7	100
S.H.B.	136	12	148
W.H.B.	11	2	13
PACT	2	0	2
Total	920	118	1,038