Children adopted abroad by Irish citizens not resident in Ireland should become Irish citizens automatically, and the Attorney General is the appropriate officer to protect their interests, the Law Reform Commission says.
The recommendations come in its report, Aspects of Intercountry Adoption Law, which will be launched this evening. It stresses the need to put the interests of the child at the centre of all law relating to adoption, and the responsibilities of the Irish State in vindicating "as far as practical" the rights of children adopted by Irish citizens, while acknowledging that this may be practically difficult.
The then Attorney General, Rory Brady SC, asked the commission to examine the issue in the aftermath of the Tristan Dowse case, where a child was adopted by an Irish citizen and his wife in Indonesia, and the adoption later broke down. The Attorney General went to the High Court in Dublin to secure Tristan's rights, in a case that was decided by Mr Justice McMenamin in 2006.
Both domestic and inter-country adoptions do sometimes break down, the commission said, pointing out that in one HSE area alone 13 adoptions, including both domestic and inter-country, have broken down, with the children no longer living with the people who adopted them. It recommends that pre- and post-adoption services, including counselling, be made available on a statutory basis for both domestic and inter-country adoptions.
It recommends that the Adoption Board prepare guidelines regarding the validity and authentication of overseas adoption documentation; that it have appropriate legal advice when considering the compatibility of foreign adoption law with Irish adoption law; and that a designated High Court judge be appointed to deal with all adoption cases.
This is desirable "so that they can develop expertise in the area and that a coherent body of case law will emerge and give certainty in this particular area of family law," the report states.
It recommends the appointment of accredited bodies and mediation agencies for inter-country adoptions, as envisaged by the Hague Convention, to assist couples who go abroad to adopt. It expresses concern about the fees sometimes charged for inter-country adoptions.
The existence of such bodies would be crucial "in giving some reassurance that natural parents have been counselled, that children have been properly placed for adoption and that adoption documents are proper and legal and not falsified," it states. It also recommends that special attention be given to the needs of migrant natural mothers in Ireland who give their children up for adoption.