Thousands of illegally adopted people to have inheritance rights from two sets of parents

Potentially thousands of people who were the subject of illegal adoptions will have rights of inheritance from both their birth parents and the people incorrectly listed as their parents on their birth certificates under Government plans.

The proposed changes to the law on succession come as Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman published legislation that will allow adopted people access to their full birth certificate and other information for the first time.

As part of the process of bringing in the Birth Information and Tracing Bill the Government is also seeking to resolve issues relating to succession law that arise following revelations about illegal adoptions.

In 2018, it was announced that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, had identified 126 cases where births were incorrectly and illegally registered between 1946 and 1969 in the files of former adoption society St Patrick's Guild.

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In these cases there people named on the birth certificates were not the child’s birth parents. The number of confirmed cases has since risen to 151.

A sampling review of illegal adoptions submitted to Government last year found that between 5,500 and 20,000 files could contain markers indicating potential incorrect registrations or illegal adoptions.

Lawful adoption orders have the effect of severing parental rights and responsibilities with one set of parents and creating them with another. This includes inheritance rights under the Succession Act.

Mr O’Gorman is said to be working with Minister for Justice Helen McEntee on proposals to address the issue of succession for people affected by illegal birth registration.

A Department of Children statement said that an Interdepartmental Group on Incorrect Birth Registrations recommended that an amendment be made to the Succession Act.

This amendment would mean that a person affected by incorrect birth registration should – in addition to their existing right of succession in relation to their birth parents – have succession rights in relation to their social parents, those whose name is on the birth certificate.

The department said: “Legislative amendments to the Succession Act 1965 are being prepared for Government approval, which will aim to give full effect to that policy.”

The Government is also planning a provision which offers assurance that any transaction entered into by someone that was illegally adopted will not be invalidated because they were the subject of an incorrect birth registration.

“This provision should provide certainty in relation to inheritances received by virtue of the fact that it was not known that the birth of the affected person was incorrectly registered,” the department said.

Separately, Susan Lohan, the co-founder of the Adoption Rights Alliance has raised concern that Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) will be "overwhelmed" with applications for birth information and tracing services once the new law allowing greater access to records is in force.

There are already waiting times of up to two years for information that can currently be accessed.

She fears that these agencies will not have the capacity to meet the expected level of demand – even with €4 million in extra funding and plans to hire more staff for both organsations – including 30 for Tusla.

A Department of Children statement said: “A lot of the delays and blockages experienced at present relate to legal impediments to sharing of information.

“The Bill should remove these impediments and, along with the additional expertise and resources, should ensure that services can be delivered in a timely manner.”

Tusla had about 800 people waiting for an information-and-tracing service at the beginning of 2021 and around 116 whole-time equivalent staff working in the service.

The AAI says it has about 300 people waiting on services. It said when the new law is in place “AAI will be in a position to release information in a more timely way to people and focus our energies more specifically on the time-intensive activity of tracing.”