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Updated 28/07/2015
NEW LEGISLATION WHICH would give stronger rights to adopted people has been hailed as “historic”.
The bill published yesterday aims to give adopted people the statutory right to information about their birth parents, provided they agree not to attempt to contact them.
The provisions were contained in the heads of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill. It will essentially allow people who were adopted to obtain information needed to apply for a birth certificate. They will also be able to access certain medical history details with the consent of their birth parent and they will be able to apply for a copy of their adoption order.
It’s been greeted with a mixed reaction from adoption groups but Special Rapporteur on Child Protection Geoffrey Shannon told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland he believed it was a big step forward.
We’ve been promised this legislation for three decades so I think it’s truly historic.
Shannon said it is “a human right of every individual to know who they are”.
A balancing act
In announcing the bill yesterday, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs James Reilly said that the government faced a challenge in balancing “an adopted person’s request for information about his or her identity with the right to privacy of his or her birth parent”.
“A birth certificate is an important piece of identifying information that is shared by an adopted person and his or her birth parents,” Reilly said this afternoon.
The new proposal includes a contact preference mechanism that will operate alongside a undertaking by adopted persons not to contact his or her birth parents. In addition, there will be an offer of guidance and support from Tusla social workers to both adopted persons and birth parents.
Once the bill is passed, before the law comes into effect, there will be a one year delay to allow for an awareness campaign. During this period, birth parents will be allowed to indicate if they want “no contact at present” from the adopted child.
Provisions will apply both to those adopted in the future and anyone adopted before the start of the law.
Tuam babies
The catalyst for this bill was the Tuam Babies controversy and the Coalition of Mother And Baby home Survivors (CMABS) have welcomed today’s announcement.
“All the issues that have previously caused problems appear to have been comprehensively addressed,” the group said yesterday.
“It’s a breakthrough day at last and adoption secrecy has finally been rejected in favour of full adoption equality,” added chairperson Paul Redmond.
The group did criticise the one year lead-in to the legislation saying that CMABS represented “an ageing community”.
The Adoption Rights Alliance have, however, criticised the provisions.
ARA’s co-founder Susan Lohan says that the requirement that adopted people sign a declaration saying they will respect a birth mother’s privacy is “offensive to adopted people”.
ARA add that adopted people can already obtain their birth certs through the General Registrar’s Office.
- With reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
First published 27/07/2015
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Having been adopted in 1979 I have to commend the social worker(s) I dealt with when I went to trace my biological mother. Working within the confines of what they could and couldn’t tell me a great deal of time was spent on counselling with regards what the outcome might be ie. Biological mother being dead, not wanting to hear from me, wanting to but my birth might have been a secret and fear if upsetting her family etc. it was all handled very delicately and with great care on her side as well (I found this out after we met). Just wanted to say this that despite the horrible stories I hear on the TV with regards the subject of adopted children – albeit from a generation before me when things were a lot more ‘shameful’ and secretive – I have nothing but good things to say about how my particular case was handled.
Jay, glad to hear that things went well for you. Hopefully, the same will happen for many others. I’m not an adopted person myself but have several friends who were and am familiar with their struggles.
I was adopted about 10 years before you but received very little counselling (mid 90′s).(I’ve invested in a lot since!) My situation was different in that they had married since and went on to have more children. I’m still treated as a stranger, which I think is mainly down to the lack of any counselling for biological parents and their other children.
Comes so far but this business of having to sign a declaration is an insult to “children” like me :(
Marie, I’m adopted too. Please don’t take it as an insult. I prefer to look at it as after having done one if the hardest things a mother can ever do they wish to not reopen those wounds. I know it may be difficult for you but it was never meant as an insult.
You misunderstood me perhaps?
If you need to sign a declaration in order to receive your birth certificate you are not an equal citizen.
Hardly going to turn up at birth mother’s house wanting to say hello based on a name and place of birth – data that is 18+ years old ???
well why have an issue with the declaration if you have no intention of defying it? giving a full name leaves them open to action from any negative results of giving the birth cert.
I was adopted I met my birth mother after I turned 18, My adoption agency contacted my birth father a few years ago as I was trying to trace him. He declared that he was not in a position to make contact with me. I respect his choice to not make contact with me. Yes it hurts but I imagine it hurts him just as much.
I can’t see how signing a piece of paper will stop people from contacting their birth parent(s), why else would they get the birth cert in the first place? If a birth parent wants to remain anonymous then that should be respected. They could hand over any medical background which would be a great benefit to an adopted person but if they don’t want to make contact for whatever reason then they should be allowed their privacy.
If someone gets their original birth cert then it is possible to trace their birth parent(s). Problem is that they may never have told anyone about the past and now all of a sudden this stranger arrives on the doorstep and what next? It could very good or it could go really, really bad. Some people want to leave the past behind them and may have blocked out that period in their lives. The women that had to give their children up for adoption in the past were given no respect or choice so why deny them the right to anonymity now if they so wish?
Why deny them the right to anonymity now if they so wish?
Because they had a child.
You can’t just “forget” something like that, can you?
Or to put it another way, would you want to live in a society where childbirth is a secret?
Compulsory counselling instead of signing a no contact declaration would be more beneficial.
Ireland is a small place and it’s easy enough to trace people with relatively little information through birth and marriage records.
Inaccuracies on civil registers will not be explained or investigated by the Registrar General.
The next scandal will be the number of inaccurate or missing registrations.
Paul I’m not talking about a society, I’m talking about someone who may not want the past turning up and bringing back a lot of trauma that might have been buried. Lets go with your way shall we?
Child turns up on the doorstep of their birth mother after signing a declaration not to. A woman might have a partner and/or children who know nothing about this person ever existing, they now wants answers. Her own family might never have known about the pregnancy, now they want answers. The child’s father might never have known that he was a father and that his child has been kept from him for years, now he wants answers. That is 3 families that have been lied to for years and now they all want answers. 3 families that are now in turmoil because society doesn’t want people to have secrets.
So Paul how would you handle this mess? It is a worse case scenario nut I doubt that I would be far off the mark in some respects. If people want a part of their past to remain in the past then that should be respected. If they want to give over their medical records or even write a letter maybe giving some sort of history of what happened then so be it but if people want to remain private and live their lives as they live them now then they should be allowed to do so.
….and you refer to the adopted person as a “child”. Says it all about the attitude to adopted adults who have to jump through hoops to find out who we are.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. extract from Desiderata
Hi No One,
The worst part of the scenario you envisage is this:
” That is 3 families that have been lied to for years and now they all want answers. 3 families that are now in turmoil because society doesn’t want people to have secrets. ”
If adoptions were not created with this secrecy in mind, such scenarios could not occur.
If you had a child, who in their right mind would think that they would not hurt a partner by keeping it secret? You are trying to pretend that short term peace of mind will prevent long term pain.
The law should not support unrealistic desires. A birth mother could never forget, a child has the right to know their origins and the law should recognise that such secrets should never be.
3 familes could never be ruined if honesty was policy.
My mother was given away in the 50′s. A “shame baby” or whatever they want to call it before the adoption act came in.
She was part of a landmark case in the late 90′s to find out who her birth mother was. Long story short, she found her and her mother didn’t want to meet her. As sad as my mother was she understood how difficult it was for that woman, also.
Then a couple of years later, my mother was working in a day care centre for older people and who was she working with? Yep, her mother. She never told her that she was her daughter and they became great friends till she died. There’s a photo of them together and they are the image of one another.
Very weird story.
Its about time.
If someone gives a child up for adoption, no they should NOT be allowed to withhold their information.
Have to agree, once 18 years have passed we’re all equal citizens.
name and address should be there own decision. medical history should be given at time of adoption and updated as necessary
People are entitled to their own history, especially as adults. Otherwise we have to officially hide things from some citizens to prevent other citizens from feeling embarrassed. Equal rights aren’t easy.
to be fair, it’s not embarrassment they are guarding against.
where do you think the right to privacy of the parents stops?
I presume this box saying I will not try to make contact will only be present if the birth parent wishes it ?
I think this is good news, some birth parents like my own, have had 30 odd years to think about all this, and now with all that time passed, if they want to stipulate that I don’t make contact, well that’s where we stand isn’t it.
I have had an amazing upbringing and life, and the mum and dad that reared me will always be my mum and dad. If anything I want to show my birth mum she made a good choice, because I know it wasn’t easy. and she can have no regrets.
This making the news and being relevant hopefully will make my birth parents consider things, and when I do apply, I may even get to meet them even just to say hi and thanks.
What if you just want to find out medical information? Will that be included with the birth certificate? Assuming the birth mother wants no further contact.
This is the FAQ http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/legislation/20150727AdoptionInfoTracingBillFAQs.pdf
I think that you are entitled to whatever records exist such as medical records, notes, letters or anything else that may have been kept in relation to the birth. The full bill is here http://www.dcya.gov.ie/documents/legislation/20150727AdoptionInfoandTracingHeadsofBill1.pdf
No One, you’re right. I’ve been through the process of getting them. About 5 years ago now. Was even put in contact with my birth mother through the agency. I’d send my letter to them and they would forward it and the same with her reply. Obviously this was after counselling.
If they are older, will they be entitled to know what the purchase price was?
A conditional #right only. Further #official #govt and #statutory #discrimination against #adopted people who have already long been discriminated against. So much for these thoroughly modern and educated times.
It’s time that governments stopped using one interpretation of the I.O.T case ruling
For example what if people were denied automatic rights to their own birth certs, on grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion, sexuality or ability, respectively? #scandal #outcry
There’s more to it than that and you know it.
Now they need to give the same information to all those adopted children that have been denied the information for years I am so glad that someone has given these people a brain transplant
About bloody time
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