Sir, – It was heartening to see a report on illegal adoptions on the front page of The Irish Times (January 12th).
These adult adoptees will never be able to access the document that non-adoptees have as an automatic right: a birth certificate.Their mothers may never be able to move beyond the shame and secrecy of being the mother of the “the child born out of wedlock” and tell their story to their children . It is a cruel society that we live in whereby kin cannot meet .
It is within Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald’s brief to change this inequality with the forthcoming adoption tracing and information legislation and let all citizens be equal in the eyes of the law. – Yours, etc,