Foreign adoptions are on the increase in the Midlands due to the shortage of Irish children available to couples seeking to extend their families. Some 31 applications to adopt children from abroad were made last year to the Midland Health Board. While the applications mainly sought Romanian children, there were also dealings with other countries which have agreements with the Irish authorities.
Of the 31 applications made last year, 19 came from Laois/ Offaly and 12 from Longford/ Westmeath. At the end of the year, seven of the applications were cleared.
Mr Derry O'Dwyer, the board's programme manager for community care, told board members last month that its Irish adoption lists remained closed. However, this week, he said that interest in adopting children from abroad had not waned despite some recent reports.
Foreign adoptions have been much in the news lately - comparisons have been made with the 1950s when large numbers of Irish children were sent to the US for adoption.
Strong criticism of the practice also came from the Adopted People's Association last week. Its chairman, Mr Anton Sweeney, said his group supported foreign adoptions only in extraordinary circumstances. The adoptions should involve "true orphans of the world community", like those from Chernobyl and Rwanda, and even then only after safeguards were in place.
Mr O'Dwyer said he did not expect the interest in foreign adoptions in the Midlands to drop. "The main problem is that there are not enough Irish children available for adoption. The situation has changed dramatically since legal adoption was introduced in 1953."
He said that while unmarried mothers had little alternative in those days but to place their children for adoption, that situation had changed. In the intervening years, harsh attitudes had lessened and the introduction of the lone parent allowance had helped mothers keep their children.
"We provide a full service here for those who wish to adopt children from abroad. They go through a strict assessment before the application is granted and that normally takes eight to 10 months.
"When the children arrive here from abroad, we continue to provide a support service for parents and try and make it supportive rather than intrusive." It was board policy, he said, to continue to monitor the development of the adopted child and ensure its well-being without upsetting the parents.
Figures published recently by the Midland Health Board show that while the percentage of births to single mothers has increased nationally, the number of such births in the Midlands is lower than the national average.
The percentage of births to single mothers nationally is 24.8 per cent. In the Midlands, the figure is 19.9 per cent of all births.