Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2013
88. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the very low success rate of the national contact preference register in matching only about 5% of the people who sought their assistance; the action she will take regarding same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53842/13]
View answerThe National Adoption Contact Register was established in 2005 to assist adopted people and their natural families to make contact with each other, exchange information or state their contact preferences. They decide, through a range of information and contact options, how they wish to proceed. The Adoption Authority of Ireland has responsibility for the operation of the Contact Preference Register. The Authority has stated that there are currently in the region of 7500 adopted persons and 3400 relatives registered and there have been 660 matches to date. Each "match" involves an adopted person and at least one natural relative; therefore, based on these figures the result is around 9% of adopted applicants and just under 20% of natural relatives have been matched. The Authority advises that this would be comparable with the 10-15% success rates reported in similar registers in other jurisdictions.
The Authority, the Health Service Executive and accredited adoption services routinely inform enquirers about the existence of the register and encourage anyone interested in tracing or gaining information to sign up. I am conscious of recent media coverage of the issue of information and tracing and I would hope that this will encourage more birth mothers in particular to access the Contact Preference Register and where possible to consent to the release of information.
