The Information and Tracing services established under the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 opened for applications just over a year ago, on the 3rd of October 2022. As of the 31st of October 2023, the Child and Family Agency, Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland have received 10,691 applications for information, and have progressed 8,385 (or 78%) to completion.
They have also received 5,803 applications for tracing and, as of the end of September, 461 traces had been completed. The Adoption Authority of Ireland has registered 3,475 preferences on the Contact Preference Register, and successfully identified 276 matches between people seeking to contact relatives. It has facilitated contact between 118 sets of relatives so far and contact between a further 158 is in the process of facilitation.
When they opened in October 2022, the Information and Tracing Services were subject to an initial surge of applications. The task of compiling each applicant’s information is a complex one, which involves examining a variety of historic records transferred over time into Tusla and the AAI’s care, many of which are not housed in one file or location. Unfortunately it is not the case that there is one complete and easily accessible file per person waiting to be handed over to them. A thorough and time-consuming search of records is necessary to guarantee the release of all relevant information to the applicant.
While there have been some delays in responding to the surge of demand for Information and Tracing Services, both bodies have worked to address this, re-assigning additional staff members to work exclusively on processing applications, and actively undertaking specialised digitisation projects to ensure that information is safeguarded and indexed accurately, and that the efficiency of the process of finding each applicant’s information improves into the future. It is encouraging to note that the AAI has fully cleared its backlog of applications and is now operating within statutory timeframes, and that Tusla remain committed to clearing their backlog as a matter of priority, and are coming closer to doing so with every passing week.
Furthermore, it has been very heartening to receive a wealth of positive feedback from people who have accessed Birth Information and Tracing Services and kindly shared their experiences with Tusla, the AAI, my Department, and with me through my constituency office.
