| | | | | | | Adoption Authority to have independent status | | | The Irish Times, 19th July 2010
by Carol Coulter | | | THE ADOPTION Board will be abolished and replaced by an Adoption Authority under the Adoption Act 2009, signed into law by President McAleese last week.
The Act, which will be commenced in November next, also incorporates the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption into Irish law, and requires the courts to take account of the thinking behind it, as represented in an explanatory report.
The Act repeals the various Adoption Acts passed between 1952 and 1998, updating their provisions. It requires that in all proceedings surrounding adoption, the welfare of the child shall be “the first and paramount” consideration.
The new Adoption Authority will have a new independent statutory status and new functions.
The Hague Convention requires that there is a designated Central Authority to deal with and recognise inter-country adoptions, and this function will be played by the new authority.
It will also have responsibility for standard-setting in adoption, and in supervising and registering accredited bodies.
It will retain the responsibility for making adoption orders, granting declarations of eligibility and suitability to adopt.
The chairperson and deputy chairperson of the new authority must be a judge or a barrister or solicitor of not less than 10 years’ standing. It will have five ordinary members, specified as two social workers, a medical practitioner, a barrister or solicitor and a psychologist.
The members of the Adoption Board were not required to have such qualifications.
All organisations and societies engaged in placing children for adoption must be registered with the Adoption Authority.
The Act specifies who can be heard in any adoption proceedings, including the father of the child, whether married to the mother or not. Such proceedings may be heard wholly or partially in private.
The privacy of adoption proceedings, an aspect of the “clean break” form of adoption, is continued in the new Act.
Minister for Children Barry Andrews has stated he will introduce legislation to deal with this issue in the next Dáil session. | | | | | | |  For further information, please contact Marion Campbell Solicitors by calling (01) 475 9345, or by filling out an on-line enquiry form. |
|
