Vol. 461 No. 7
152 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Health his views on complaints by prospective adoptive parents that it takes a year and a half to two years from the initial application to obtain a certificate for foreign adoptions to a final determination and granting or otherwise of a certificate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3900/96]
The Adoption Act, 1991, imposed a statutory duty on health boards to undertake assessments for foreign adoptions. In carrying out this function, the boards must have regard to the competing demands in other areas of its social services, particularly in relation to child protection which, as the Deputy will appreciate, must take priority over all other work.
I am aware that prospective adoptive parents residing in the Eastern Health Board region are experiencing some delays because of the large number of requests for assessment that that board is continuing to receive. It currently has three social workers assigned full-time to foreign adoptions and is closely monitoring progress in reducing the waiting time for the commencement of assessments.
As regards the length of time it takes to complete an assessment, I should point out that the Adoption Board in its guidelines to the adoption agencies has made it clear that it expects the standard of an assessment for a foreign adoption to be equivalent to that for a domestic adoption.
