Adoption Authority of Ireland Press Release
Launch of Annual Report 2016, www.aai.gov.ie (click here for Annual Report 2016)
Dr Geoffrey Shannon, Chairman of the Adoption Authority will today publish the Annual Report of 2016 for the Adoption Authority, at www.aai.gov.ie. The report gives a clear picture of adoption in Ireland today, outlines the Authority’s robust Corporate Governance framework, and details progress on the objectives of the Corporate and Business Plans for 2016.
Throughout 2016, the Adoption Authority continued to highlight the rights and best interests of children and began a new protocol to hear the voice of the child in all adoption matters. In family adoptions and adoptions from long-term foster care, most children are of an age and level of maturity where they are consulted about the proposed adoption. Family adoptions continue to be the main type of adoption within Ireland, totalling 65 in 2016.
There were 19 adoptions from long term foster care in 2016. The proposed Adoption Amendment Bill opens a pathway for a significant number of the 6000 children in care, to become eligible for adoption. Adoption is one care option for children and it provides identity and permanence within a family structure. Adoption is not the answer in every situation but where a child is in foster care without a realistic hope of returning home, adoption can allow the child a secure family that has legal permanence.
There were 5 adoptions of infants in Ireland under one year old, during 2016. The natural mother chooses adoption for her child, and must give free and informed consent for the placement. Natural fathers are consulted and notified where practicable, about their views on the proposed adoption. Natural parents of the infants choose adoptive parents for their child, from a panel of adoptive families who have been previously assessed as eligible and suitable to parent an adopted child.
From the enactment of the first Adoption Act in 1952, up to 2016, there have been 44,459 adoptions in Ireland. Proposed legislation on Information and Tracing will give all adopted people a right to access their original birth certificates. The legislation also provides for the Adoption Authority to secure, preserve and collate all information and records pertaining to adoptions in Ireland, and for the Tusla national adoption services to provide tracing and information services. Currently there are 12,959 adopted people and birth relatives registered with the Authority, on the National Adoption Contact Preference Register, seeking services to make contact with birth relatives.
Fifty-four children were adopted from abroad by Irish families in 2016. Adoption into Ireland from abroad has been a feature of Irish life for more than 25 years, and there have been 5,021 such intercountry adoptions. Children have been adopted into safe and loving family homes here, often from very adverse conditions abroad. Research published on the Authority’s website in 2016 shows that adoptive families can and do provide an environment where children can recover from very serious developmental delay, disadvantage and emotional deprivation. The research also highlighted the need for post adoption supports, and the Authority published a Post Adoption Services Directory on its new website in 2016.
The Adoption Authority of Ireland accredits and inspects adoption service providers in Ireland. Through accredited mediation services, and by direct negotiation with authorities within the countries, it continues to work closely with Vietnam, China, the US, Bulgaria, Philippines and Thailand to maintain the highest standards of administrative and legal agreements, for children in need of the permanency of adoption to be placed with Irish families.
Contact: Patricia Carey CEO
