This is our fourth submission on adoption legislation since our foundation more than ten years ago. Having waited so long, we are extremely disappointed that the Adoption Bill 2009 seems to be a hastily drawn up document which clumsily incorporates all previous domestic adoption legislation, together with a provision to give effect to the Hague Convention on international adoption. The resulting document is confusing. It appears our previous three lengthy submissions on the Hague Convention and domestic adoption remain unread and locked in the filing cabinets of the Department of Health and Children. We also note with despair that, despite constant reminders to the Department and the social workers who were here previously, we are hurt by the terms which we find inaccurate and insulting of "birth mother" and, more incongruously, "birth father" which appear in the text of the Bill. These terms continue to be used. We are the natural parents of people who are adopted and would like to be referred to as such.
We will summarise the main deficiencies of the Bill from our point of view and remind the committee that it has already received a more detailed document. The Bill continues to deny adopted people their birth certificates as of right. It proposes the continuation of the outmoded and unnecessary practice of issuing a short form or "pretend birth certificate" as we call it. It makes no provision for the right of natural mothers to read their own adoption files or for their adult children to have access to these files. Underlying all of this is the fact that the right of a person to know he or she is adopted is not included in the Bill. The denial of this right to identity is also the denial of the right to bodily integrity. In the event of serious illness, an adopted person may need a life-saving organ or cell donation from among their natural relatives. We contend that where the State, as represented by the Adoption Authority of Ireland, holds information on someone's legal or illegal adoption and withholds that information, it could be legitimately sued by those whose health is compromised as a result.
The Bill does not provide for a statutory counselling service to be made available to natural mothers and fathers who are considering placing their child for adoption. There is no mention of the inadvisability of the same adoption agency representing both the applicant adopters and the natural parents, nor does it provide for independent legal advice for such natural parents prior to signing a consent to adoption. It appears the consent procedure is being reduced to having one signed form in place of the present initial and final two-stage system. We also believe the Bill should include the need for GP or psychiatrist certification that persons are competent to sign such consent forms.
While we agree with the provision in the Bill for the adoption of children of married parents, we believe that, without statutory law providing for open adoption, the Bill could be used to impose permanent separation from his or her natural family on an unwilling child. Adoption in circumstances where a child has become separated from his or her family should only take place where the child has made the choice freely and without pressure. In our view, however, the addition of legal guardianship for long-term foster parents of some children in care could provide the security and permanence they need.
We are disappointed no upper age limit is mentioned for adopters. Children already deprived of their family should not have the additional worry that their adoptive parents will become dependent on them in their early adulthood. Regarding a lower age limit, it is notable that the Bill does not make provision for the special advice and help needed when natural parents are themselves minors — in some cases as young as 11 years. The Bill does not address the issue of open adoption, despite the fact that many adoption agencies and Departments are allowing some natural parents to believe such a process is possible when, in fact, there is no legal basis for it.
The main business of adoption agencies in Ireland is search and reunion, not adoption. The very people they separated in the past successfully fought for the provision of this service. However, the Bill provides no statutory basis for the right to this service for adopted people and their natural relatives, nor does it lay down statutory guidelines for those working as tracers or social workers in this sensitive area. One difficulty arising from this lack of regulation is that some adoption agencies refuse to inform adults they are adopted because of their belief that under present legislation, they do not have the right to do so. As we participated in the advisory group which set up the national adoption contact preference register, we insist it is essential that it receives a mention in the Bill and are amazed it has been omitted. It has been a notable success since its inception, saved many hours of social workers' time and helped to shorten the lengthy queues of adopted people and natural relatives awaiting search and reunion services with adoption agencies.
We are extremely worried that the register of adoption agencies, referred to throughout as "accredited bodies", will be expanded to include adoption agencies working in Ireland and abroad and also international adoption agencies working abroad and in Ireland. The short-staffed Adoption Authority of Ireland does not have the resources it needs to monitor or control their activities. We note that the regulations under which they will operate are not detailed in the Bill. A United Nations report on one such Irish adoption agency made worrying reading and the Bill does not appear to provide a mechanism to prevent a recurrence of the alleged illegal acts. The lack of statutory or regulatory control allows registered Irish adoption agencies to refuse to comply with requests for documents regarding illegal adoptions to the Adoption Board. This can be confirmed by the Adoption Board. We suggest its chairman, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, be called before the Joint Committee on Health and Children to explain the matter in greater detail.
On international adoption, we have repeated our contention that Ireland should not enter into bilateral agreements with countries which have been unable to sign up to the Hague Convention. We realise that legislators have been under great pressure from lobby groups to expand the number of bilateral agreements and renew agreements with countries which had manifestly corrupt adoption practices. However, we are satisfied that our principled stance will be vindicated when natural parents and their children who were taken for adoption from these countries provide testimony in the future on the illegal and cruel methods used to separate them. Irish legislators will be asked why they allowed this to happen.
On the Hague Convention, we realise Irish legislators cannot change the text which is set down as an international agreement, but we will comment that there is no provision for statutory counselling of natural parents prior to signing adoption consent forms, nor is there provision for ensuring those signing consents are, in fact, the parents of the child in question. Additionally, no cognisance is taken of the fact that many parents may be illiterate or speak a different language from that of the adoption facilitator. How are we to be sure they will understand the meaning of legal adoption, the change of their child's name and his or her permanent removal to an unknown foreign country?
On implementation of the Hague Convention in Ireland as set out in the Adoption Bill, we are dismayed by the lack of evidence required in law which will allow the High Court to dispense with the consent of natural mothers in other countries. It seems proof is set at a lower bar simply because they are poor, foreign and matter less than Irish citizens. We are also concerned that the information requirement for the foreign adoption register about the natural parentage of children adopted from abroad is extremely scanty and would not satisfy the needs of anyone seeking information on their origins.
Adoption Loss Natural Parents Network of Ireland was formed more than a decade ago by a number of mothers who had been parted from their children by adoption and who wished to provide support for others who had suffered the same loss. Throughout that time we have provided help for many thousands of natural mothers and an increasing number of fathers who contact us via our helpline, by e-mail or letter. The majority of those who contact us speak for the first time about their loss and are simply relieved to talk to someone who has experienced a similar loss and will listen with understanding and without judgment. We have encouraged natural parents to set up support groups in Dublin and other parts of the country and inform callers about their location, as well as putting people in touch with others on a "phone buddy" basis. Our youngest caller was in her 20s and trying to retain contact with her son after the adoptive parents had withdrawn from the open adoption to which they had previously agreed. The oldest mother we helped was more than 100 years of age when she was reunited with her 60 year old daughter. It is unfortunately true, however, that some other cases have proved impossible to resolve because of the lack of a clear statutory law dealing with many aspects of adoption. Our service is free. All our committees give their time voluntarily. From the outset, we recognised the urgent need for adoption legislation to be reformed. We were determined to campaign for change. We improved our knowledge of the specific legal barriers in this regard as we learned about the difficulties faced by many mothers and fathers when they start the long journey towards reunion.
