John McGuinness
Ceist:210 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason for the delay in processing an application by a person (details supplied) in County Carlow for a second foreign adoption. [24264/99]
Written Answers. - Foreign Adoptions.
John McGuinness
Ceist:211 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will review the restrictions placed on families who have successfully adopted a child from abroad and are therefore prevented for a period of three years from adopting a second child; his views on whether this restriction is removing the right of the first child adopted to have a brother or sister; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24265/99]
Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Mr. Early)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 210 and 211 together.
Adoption services in the South Eastern Health Board area are provided by SEEK Regional Adoption Services which forms part of the board's community care programme. This particular case is a matter for the South Eastern Health Board and I have referred it to the chief executive officer of the board for direct reply to Deputy McGuinness.
I have previously outlined to the House the waiting lists that exist for inter-country adoption assessment and the efforts being made to improve this situation following the publication of the report, Towards a Standardised Framework for Inter-country Adoption Assessment Procedures, in July 1999. Additional funding of £500,000 was provided to the health boards in 1999 for this purpose. Arising from the funding approved to the South Eastern Health Board an additional social worker is being appointed to the Carlow-Kilkenny area.
The report dealt specifically with the issue of second assessments. Good practice in this area is that the first child is placed with the couple and allowed to settle before the couple are assessed for a second child. The report recommends that such assessments should then be prioritised in the boards' lists. This is one of the many issues under consideration by the group charged with overseeing the implementation of the report's recommendations.