Data Protection

The policy document below sets out the procedures to be followed in the Adoption Authority of Ireland when handling and responding to requests for Subject Access Rights under GDPR made by the data subjects, their representatives or other interested parties.

This policy explains the rights of individuals with respect to their personal data and clarifies what the Authority must do to comply with its duties as a data controller.

This Subject Access Rights covered in the policy are:

• The Right to be Informed
• Subject Access Requests (Article 15)
• Requests for Data Erasure also referred to as the Right to be Forgotten (Articles 17 & 19)
• Requests for Data Rectification (Article 16)
• Requests for Restriction of Processing (Articles 18 & 19)
• Data Portability (Article 20)

Data Subject Access Rights Policy

To make a subject access request please complete the Subject Access Request Form and return it in the post to:

Heather Connolly
Data Protection officer
Adoption Authority of Ireland
Shelbourne House
Shelbourne Road
DUBLIN 04 H6F6
Ireland 

OR you can email the Form to: DataProtection@aai.gov.ie

You must provide proof of your identity with your written request, for example a copy of your driving licence or passport. 

For further information you can visit the Data Protection Commission website at www.dataprotection.ie

We will be updating this page with additional policy documents and information in relation to GDPR in due course.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 2014 offers you access on request, to certain records held by the Authority.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 – 2014 with effect from 21 April 2015.

Section 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2014, states that the ‘effective date’ for an agency like the Adoption Authority of Ireland shall be 21 April 2008, that is, the Act shall only apply to records created by the Authority after 21 April 2008.

Furthermore, the 2014 Act designates the Adoption Authority of Ireland as a ‘Partially Included Agency’. This means that the Acts do not apply to ‘records concerning, or arising from, the making of an adoption order or in the recognition of an intercountry adoption effected outside the State, within the meaning of the Adoption Act 2010'.

Generally speaking, this means, that the Acts do not apply to individual adoption records but that they do apply to all other records relating to the activities of the Authority and the former Adoption Board from 21 April 2008 onwards.

The Adoption Authority of Ireland publishes a list of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests received. You can access the list here.

Requests for the release of information under the Acts should be made in writing to:

The Manager
Corporate Services Unit
Adoption Authority of Ireland
Shelbourne House
Shelbourne Road
DUBLIN 4
D04 H6F6

Email: corporate@aai.gov.ie

Domestic Infant

Domestic Infant adoption is essentially the process whereby a child is placed with an alternative set of parents. All legal rights, responsibilities and duties are transferred to the new parents and the birth parents relinquish all their legal rights and duties in relation to the child. A child cannot be placed for adoption with a couple without the prior approval of the Adoption Authority. A child may only be placed by Tusla - The Child and Family Agency or an accredited body. Only couples with valid Declarations of Eligibility and Suitability may be considered for the placement of the child. Where a child is placed for adoption by its birth mother (usually) and is to be adopted into a family other than the one it was born to.

In order to begin the adoption process, you will need to get in touch with your local adoption office of Tusla - The Child and Family Agency. The contact details for the local offices can be found here

Who arranges the placement of a child for adoption?
Only registered Accredited Bodies and the Tusla - The Child and Family Agency are legally entitled to place children for adoption in Ireland. The approval of the Adoption Authority is required before the child can be placed with its prospective adopter(s). The prospective adopter(s) must hold a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability before a child can be placed with them for adoption.

Minimum Ages
Prospective adopters must both be at least 21 years of age.

Upper Ages
The law does not lay down upper age limits for prospective adoptive parents however age is a significant factor when assessing suitability to adopt.

Residency of adopters
Prospective adoptive parents must be habitually resident in the State.

Residency of the child
The child must be resident in the State.

Religion
Where the prospective adoptive parent(s), the child and the parent(s) are not all of the same religion, the parent(s) must know the religion (if any) of each of the adopting parents when giving consent to the child's adoption.

Suitability
The Adoption Authority cannot make an adoption order unless it is satisfied that each of the adopting parents is a suitable person to have parental rights and duties in respect of the child. The adopting parents must hold a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability at the time the adoption order is to be made.

Statistics
A table outlining the number of infant adoptions in Ireland in recent years is available here.

Information about the steps in a Domestic Infant Adoption
Since the vast majority of adoptive parents in Ireland are married couples, the following notice is written in the plural for ease of reading. Under certain circumstances, sole applicants may also adopt.

Persons wishing to have a child placed with them for adoption should apply to one of the registered Accredited Bodies or their local office of the Tusla - The Child and Family Agency

Applicants will undergo a detailed assessment process for the purpose of obtaining a Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability.

The purpose of this assessment is to establish the suitability of the prospective adoptive parents to adopt a child. It includes a number of joint and individual interviews and visits to the applicants’ home. The social worker will discuss such areas as their relationship, their motives for adopting, their expectations of the child and their ability to help the child to develop knowledge and understanding of his/her natural background.

When an infant is placed for adoption, the parent(s) are given the opportunity to outline their preferences of the type of family they would like the infant to be placed with. For example, the parent(s) may wish the infant to be brought up in a rural area, or a county other than where they live themselves; they may express a preference for a couple who have a child already and so their child will have a sibling.

The registered Accredited Body or Tusla - The Child and Family Agency will then examine the profiles of everyone holding a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability. At least three profiles will be provided to the parent(s) of the infant without any identifying information. The parent(s) with the social worker will then select one of the profiles. The social worker will contact the relevant prospective adoptive parents to see if they are willing to proceed with the placement of the child into their care.

Once a placement has been successful the next step for the prospective adoptive parents is to apply to the Adoption Authority for an adoption order. The application is generally made through the registered Accredited Body or Tusla - The Child and Family Agency who has been working with them. They will advise what documents are required for the adoption application.

The Adoption Authority does not usually finalise an adoption until the prospective adoptive parents have had the child in their care for a minimum of six months. The registered Accredited Body or Tusla - The Child and Family Agency are required to submit at least 2 post placement reports to the Authority before the Authority can consider the application for the Adoption Order. The Authority may require the applicants to have the child in their care for a longer period in certain circumstances.

Important information about Consent

Consent to Placement
Where the child's adoption is being arranged by a registered Accredited Body or Tusla - The Child and Family Agency, the mother, father (where he is a guardian) or other legal guardian must give an initial consent or agreement to the placing of the child for adoption by that body. This may be given at any time after the birth of the child.

Consent to Adoption Order
The mother, father (where he is a guardian) or other legal guardian must give consent the making of the adoption order. Consent to the making of an adoption order may not be given until the child is at least six weeks old. It may not be given earlier than three months before the date of the application for the adoption order. Consent to the making of an adoption order must be given in a particular format and following a particular procedure which is set down in legislation.

Consent to the making of an adoption order may be withdrawn at any time before the making of the adoption order.

Reclaim of child
If a mother changes her mind about adoption before the making of the adoption order and seeks to reclaim her child but the adopting parents refuse to give up the child, then it is open to her to institute legal proceedings to have custody of the child restored to her.

Dispensing with consent
In certain circumstances where the Authority is satisfied that the person whose consent is required is incapable by reason of mental infirmity of giving consent or cannot be found an application may be made to the High Court to dispense with the consent to allow the adoption order to be made. The High Court considers the best interests of the child before making an order.

No consent
Where a mother who has initially agreed to the placing of her child for adoption fails, neglects or refuses to give her consent to the making of an adoption order, or withdraws a consent already given, it is open to the adopting parents, if they have applied for an adoption order for the child, to apply to the High Court for an order allowing the adoption to proceed. The High Court considers the best interests of the child before making an order.

Statistics on Domestic Infant Adoption

Long Term Foster Care to Adoption

Long Term Foster Care to Adoption - This type of adoption occurs where a child has been placed with a couple initially in a foster care situation because the birth mother/parents are unsure of what decision they wish to make about caring for the child themselves or allowing the child to be adopted. In other circumstances the child may have been placed with foster parents on foot of Tusla - The Child and Family Agency having obtained a Care Order for the child due to the circumstances around the birth parents/family. After a period of time it becomes clear through the Child Care Review/Plan that it will not be possible for the child to be returned to his/her birth parents/family and that the child’s best interests would be served by being adopted.

Where a child is in a long term fostering situation it may become clear after a period through the Child Care Review/Plan that it will not be possible for the child to be returned to his/her birth parents/family and that the child’s best interests would be served by being adopted by their foster parent(s).

A child cannot be adopted once they turn 18 years of age. The adoption process can take a long time so an application should be made before the child turns 16. 

In order to begin the adoption process, you should discuss it with your assigned fostering social worker, or get in touch with your local adoption office of Tusla- The Child and Family Agency. The contact details for the local offices can be found here.

The birth mother’s consent to the adoption is required.  In some cases, the birth mother may be objecting to the proposed adoption or may not be contactable to give her consent. Where the birth father is a legal guardian his consent is also required.

Where the birth father of the child is not a legal guardian he is entitled to be notified and consulted about the application for adoption. This may result in a number of outcomes including:

(i) The birth father is notified and has no objection.

(ii) The birth father is notified and does object – he may or may not decide to make an application to the district court for a guardianship order.

(iii) The birth father is identified but cannot be located.

(iv) The birth father cannot be identified and therefore cannot be notified – in this circumstance the Adoption Authority must obtain an order from the High Court to allow an adoption order to be made without consultation of the birth father.

(v) Circumstances are such that it is deemed inappropriate to notify the birth father if he is known - in this circumstance the Adoption Authority must obtain an order from the High Court to allow an adoption order to be made without consultation of the birth father.

(vi) The birth father is deceased. In this case the birth father cannot be notified or consulted. The birth father’s death certificate and evidence linking him to the child is required before the application can proceed.

Where the necessary consents to the adoption have not been obtained the application cannot proceed.

It is open to the applicants applying to adopt the child to make an application to the High Court to dispense with the consent of the birth mother and or birth father as necessary.

Where an application has been made to court, either by the parties to the adoption or by the Adoption Authority, the adoption application is suspended until the court proceedings are finalised.

Minimum Ages
Prospective adopters must be at least 21 years of age.

Upper Ages
The law does not lay down upper age limits for prospective adoptive parents however age is a significant factor when assessing suitability to adopt.

Residency of adopters
Prospective adoptive parents must be habitually resident in the State.

Residency of the child
The child must be resident in the State.

Religion
Where the prospective adoptive parent(s), the child and the parent(s) are not all of the same religion, the parent(s) must know the religion (if any) of each of the adopting parents when giving consent to the child's adoption.

Suitability
The Adoption Authority cannot make an adoption order unless it is satisfied that each of the adopting parents is a suitable person to have parental rights and duties in respect of the child. The adopting parents must hold a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability at the time the adoption order is to be made.

Statistics on Fostercare to Adoption

Stepfamily

Stepfamily in the context of adoption generally refers to families formed when the birth mother of a child marries a man who is not the birth father of that child, and the child is living with this married couple, or in a small number of cases where the child is living with the birth father who wishes to adopt the child with his wife. Applications are made in these cases so that the birth parent’s spouse can establish legal rights in respect of the child within the family unit. This also ensures the child’s inheritance rights within the family. The making of an adoption order in these cases involves the birth parent giving up sole legal rights in respect of the child and, with his or her spouse, taking on joint legal rights, responsibilities and guardianship in respect of the child.

Where a child is being adopted by its mother and her husband (this is the case in the vast majority of stepparent applications) if the birth father is a legal guardian of the child his consent is required before the adoption can proceed. If he gives his consent to the adoption, the guardianship order must be discharged before the adoption can proceed. If he does not consent to the adoption, it cannot proceed but it is open to the birth mother to apply to the district court to have the guardianship order discharged.

Where the birth father of the child is not a legal guardian he is entitled to be notified and consulted about the application for adoption. This may result in a number of outcomes including:

(i) The birth father is notified and has no objection.

(ii) The birth father is notified and does object – he may or may not decide to make an application to the district court for a guardianship order.

(iii) The birth father is identified but cannot be located.

(iv) The birth father cannot be identified and therefore cannot be notified – in this circumstance the Adoption Authority must obtain an order from the High Court to allow an adoption order to be made without consultation of the birth father.

(v) Circumstances are such that it is deemed inappropriate to notify the birth father if he is known - in this circumstance the Adoption Authority must obtain an order from the High Court to allow an adoption order to be made without consultation of the birth father.

(vi) The birth father is deceased. In this case the birth father cannot be notified or consulted. The birth father’s death certificate and evidence linking him to the child is required before the application can proceed.

Where an application has been made to court, either by the parties to the adoption or by the Adoption Authority, the adoption application is suspended until the court proceedings are finalised.

When the consent and or notification of the birth father issue have been dealt with appropriately the application can proceed.

Residency of adopters
Prospective adoptive parents must be habitually resident in the State.

Residency of the child
The child must be resident in the State.

Religion
Where the prospective adoptive parent(s), the child and the parent(s) are not all of the same religion, the parent(s) must know the religion (if any) of each of the adopting parents when giving consent to the child's adoption.

Suitability
The Adoption Authority cannot make an adoption order unless it is satisfied that each of the adopting parents is a suitable person to have parental rights and duties in respect of the child. The adopting parents must hold a valid Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability at the time the adoption order is to be made.

Birth father and his wife adopting
Where a child is being adopted by his birth father and birth father’s wife, the consent of the birth mother is required in order to proceed as she is a legal guardian of the child.

If the birth mother is not consenting to the adoption the application cannot proceed.

Where the birth mother is deceased her death certificate will be required in order for the application to proceed.

Information for Adopted People

Original Birth Certificate Requests

Under existing legislation, an adopted adult has no automatic access to their original birth certificate. This is because all birth certificates contain personal information about the birth mother and her right to confidentiality must be respected.

When the Adoption Authority receives your request for the release of your original birth certificate, we will acknowledge your request in writing. In the letter we will provide you with the contact details for the adoption agency that will be assisting us with your request.  Where the original adoption agency is closed we will give the contact details for the agency which now holds the files for the closed agency.  In most cases this will be one of the offices of Tusla - Child and Family Agency.

We will write to the adoption agency and ask them to provide us with a report which will assist us in making a decision about the release of your birth certificate. A social worker in the agency will be assigned to your case.  Their report to us will include the following:

• Details of their contact with you and your birth mother;
• Details of your birth mother’s views on the release of the birth certificate;
• Details of your hopes and expectations about getting your birth certificate and the information which may be on the certificate. This is of particular importance in cases where your birth mother may not be open to contact, or where she may be opposed to the release of identifying information;
• A recommendation from the social worker about the release or non-release of your birth certificate based on their findings during the process.

If your birth mother cannot be located the report must outline all the efforts that have been made to find her. If it is discovered that your birth mother is deceased, a copy of her death certificate must be provided with the report.

Generally, the Adoption Authority will release birth certificates where a birth mother has agreed in writing to the birth certificate being released, or where it has been confirmed that she is deceased and there are no other issues arising.

In all other cases your request and report from your social worker is referred to the Board of the Adoption Authority for a decision.

The Adoption Authority may refuse to release a birth certificate where a birth mother has been consulted and is opposed to the release of the birth certificate or where it considers a birth mother’s privacy or safety might be put at risk by the release of the birth certificate.

When a decision has been made by the Adoption Authority a letter will be sent to you and to the social worker who has provided the report.  If the birth certificate is being released the Adoption Authority will check with the social worker to see if you would like the birth certificate posted directly to you by the Adoption Authority, or if you would prefer to receive it from the social worker you have been dealing with.

Information for Adopted People

Information for Birth Parents

You may be thinking about taking the first step towards contact with your son or daughter. We welcome any contact from birth parents seeking information on their adopted sons or daughters. Even if you are not ready for contact, you will have important medical information that we could share with your son or daughter. Many adopted people have no knowledge of their medical histories and this information can be of great benefit to an adopted person and their children.

There are two steps that you can take to begin the process

1. Join the National Adoption Contact Preference Register. The contact register is a way of letting us know your wishes about contact with your son or daughter. Joining the Contact Register is voluntary and contact will only happen where both the adopted person and their birth relative wish to have contact. The Contact Register is not a tracing service, nothing happens unless the other person joins.
   
   If you join the Contact Register we will check to see if we can connect you with your son or daughter.  You do not have to have contact if you are not ready.  At the moment there are lots more adopted people than birth parents on the Contact Register so we urge you to join if you are a birth parent.   If you are unsure of the details of your son or daughter's birth, please contact us so that we can talk to you.  We also understand you may have placed more than one child for adoption. Please get in touch so we can help you search or put information on the file. 
   
   More information about the National Adoption Contact Preference Register and application forms below.
   
   
2. Contact the agency who placed your son or daughter for adoption. To begin a search, you will need to contact the adoption agency which dealt with your child's adoption and ask them to assist you in tracing your child. If you know the name of the agency you can contact them directly. If you are unsure or don’t know you can ask us for this information. If you do not wish to get in touch with the agency, please talk to us so we can help you and talk about an alternative service. Many of the adoption agencies are closed and the records for the majority of them have been transferred to other bodies such as Tusla - The Child and Family Agency. You can check their website to see if they are holding the records for the agency you are looking for www.tusla.ie.
   
   If you are unsure or do not know the name of the agency please contact the Information and Tracing Unit, Adoption Authority, by email or letter and attach a copy of your identification, and we will write back to you with the name of the agency and their contact details.

Useful Links

Information for Birth Mothers - preparing for contact with your adult, adopted child - Danú Birth Mothers Group

Council of Irish Adoption Agencies – Information for birth parents

Information for other family members 
If you are not a birth parent but you believe a family member was adopted and you would like to provide information for them or would like to make contact with them, when you contact us you will need to provide your own identification and evidence of your connection with the person you are seeking.

The National Adoption Contact Preference Register