Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 1

Written Answers. - Foreign Adoption Applications.

Proinsias De Rossa

Ceist:

217 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to the fact that, (1) there are now over 80 applications for foreign adoptions of which only five have been completed, (2) there is only one social worker employed in his area at present and (3) many of the couples wishing to adopt are at or near, the age limitation and will have gone over it in the 18 months it is estimated to take to complete the present list; whether he has plans to appoint more social workers in order to clear this backlog; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Connell)

I presume the Deputy is referring to the situation in the Eastern Health Board area.

This backlog has arisen because of the very large number of requests for foreign adoption assessments received by the Eastern Health Board following the enactment of the Adoption Act, 1991, which, for the first time, imposed a statutory duty on the health boards to carry out such assessments. The health board are committed to completing these assessments as soon as practicable and towards this end are currently in the process of assigning an additional social worker to the task.

The general position as regards age limits is that prospective adopters must satisfy whatever requirements are laid down in the internal laws of the foreign country where they propose to adopt. This is primarily a matter for the foreign authorities.