Madam, – I have been through a search for my birth family. Sitting with a social worker who has in her hand my original birth records, but who cannot release the information, is nothing short of soul-destroying. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – The otherwise excellent article on adoption (Weekend Review, April 17th) is incorrect in stating that adopted people have “no legal right to obtain [their] birth certificates.”
The fact is that all birth, marriage and death certificates are public records. The difference for adopted people is that they generally lack a natural mother’s name and so cannot simply fill out a form to obtain their birth certificate, like any other citizen. Instead, they must manually trawl through the records – something that can still be done, if the person has the time – just a day or two – and the money to spend in the Registrar’s public office. Numerous guides are available on the internet to demonstrate how this can be done, and it is entirely legal.
However, the necessity to do a manual search is merely a technical difficulty. All birth records have been computerised, and the General Registrar’s Office has previously confirmed to me that it would be trivial to produce a list of “adoption” birth records – ie, where the natural mother’s “maiden name” and the child’s surname are the same.
All that is lacking is the political will to allow adopted people to be given their birth certificates upon application – something that has been in the case in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since 1975 and Scotland since 1930, without the sky falling in. While the Adoption’s Board contact register was a very welcome development, the then Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, promised legislation on access to birth certs more than five years ago. This issue should not be kicked to touch yet again.
When an adopted person can legally obtain their birth certificate by doing a manual trawl, and when all of the research and experience shows the positive outcomes from open adoption records, it would seem not introducing an automatic right to be just given one’s certificate on application is perverse, and yet another Irish solution to an Irish problem. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – My heart went out to Joan Reidy (April 16th). Being, almost, similarly affected, I empathised with her awful predicament. I say almost, because I was born “illegitimate” (oh, how I take exception to that cruel and unfeeling description) a few years before the Adoption Act (thanks to the delaying actions of Archbishop McQuaid), so I was institutionalised (another word I have no grá for), rather than adopted.
However, unlike Ms Reidy, I found out in my 40s who my “parents” were, so at least I had the “consolation” of knowing who/what I am; not that there was much to console me. I believe Ms Reidy, and her son, have the natural right to know who/what they are – and no “law” should deny them that right. – Yours, etc,