Adoption Law in Ireland
Adoption Law in Ireland is in need of reform. The law on adoption consists of a number of Acts from 1952 onwards. It is confusing and hard to piece together.
Adoption is an important issue in Ireland, not only for parents who presently wish to adopt but also for those adults who were adopted as children because their mothers were not permitted to keep illegitimate babies, eg, from the Magdalene Homes. Of course, times have changed and it is rare nowadays for unmarried women to put children up for adoption. Whilst in the past, Irish babies were sent to England and America, modern couples may try to adopt from other countries such as Mexico, China and Vietnam.
Ursula Kilkelly in her book entitled “Children’s Rights in Ireland” has examined the existing law under the following headings:-
1) eligibility of children and suitability of adoptive parents
2) consent
3) the nature and impact of adoption
4) confidentiality of proceedings and records
5) the permanence of adoptive families
Under the Adoption Acts 1952-1998 a child under 18 years is eligible for adoption if both parents are deceased, if he or she is born outside marriage or if the child was born to married parents who have failed in their duty towards the child. Children born inside marriage can only be adopted when the Court makes an order under section 3 of the Adoption Act 1988. It is virtually impossible for the children of married parents to be adopted.
In deciding which people are eligible to adopt the State is bound by Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights which outlines the principle of non-discrimination. This means that adoptive parents must be judged on objective and reasonable grounds only. The decision of EB -v- France found that the decision of the French authorities to refuse permission to a single gay applicant to adopt constituted discrimination. Irish law does not prohibit a gay person from adopting children but it does provide that a couple seeking to adopt must be in a marital rather than a cohabiting relationship. This would appear to rule out gay couples and Colm O Gorman of Amnesty International has recently criticised the contents of the Civil Partnership Bill for this very reason.
Consent to adoption is a prickly issue because there have been cases where the mother has withdrawn her consent some time after granting it. The mother is required to give her consent 1) at the initial placement of the child 2) before the making of the final order. Her consent must be “full free and informed” and the courts may take into account the whole range of stresses and anxieties that ta mother may endure following the birth of her child.
The Adoption Act 1998 permits any person believing himself to be the father of a child to notify the Adoption Authority of his wish to be consulted in relation to either a proposal by an adoption authoity or an application by the child’s mother to place his child for adoption. This is an improvement on the pre-existing law which gave fathers very view rights in this regard.
There is no established legal right under Irish adoption law permitting access to one’s birth records or adoption file. Neither birth parents nor adoptive parents have this right. Nonetheless many Irish people have decided to try and trace their birth parents with varying degress of success.
