Vol. 496 No. 7
54 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason adequate resources and support are not being made available for adoptive parents; the reason for the delay in having assessments completed; the steps, if any, that will be taken to encourage adoption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23786/98]
I am not clear as to what the Deputy is referring to with regard to his question on adequate resources and support for adoptive parents. In general I would point out that an adopted child has the same legal status as if he or she was born to his or her adoptive parents, that the adoptive parents and adopted child have the same entitlement to health and social services as any other parents and children, and that the Adoption Acts make no provision for the delivery of any specific post-adoption services. If the Deputy has a specific issue in mind which I have not covered in the above perhaps he would write to me in this regard.
I dealt with the issue of the delay in commencing foreign adoption assessments in some detail in replies to questions in this House on 30 September and 5 November last. In my replies I stated that I was not convinced that simply assigning more social workers to deal with an ever expanding case load was the most efficient way of dealing with delays in this area, particularly when one considers the other areas of pressing need in our child care services. I went on to say that it was also necessary to consider how health boards could best utilise existing resources to manage cases and whether or not legislative change was required to assist them in this regard. As set out in my previous replies I intend to address the above issues by commissioning an independent consultancy to review the foreign adoption assessment procedures in the eight health boards with the aim of ensuring that an efficient and standardised assessment procedure which accords with best practice in the field operates across the country while at the same time having regard to the priority that must be attached to other areas of the child care services. It is hoped to commence this consultancy very shortly.
