ALMOST all birth mothers contacted by adoption societies agree to meet the children they gave up for adoption, says Ms Ita O'Brien of the Council of Irish Adoption Agencies.
"People who never expected to be contacted again and who are not willing to come forward, that's the difficult one," she says. When the adopted people learn that their birth mothers won't see them, "that seems to make them more desperate".
"It's very difficult to match the rights of the two people in the situation," says Ms Una Coakley of the council.
Asked about the unwillingness of adoption societies to give people information about their families of origin, she says: "In many ways we would love to be free to give that information but we are not free to do so in the absence of legislation about it."
The council supports giving people a right to their original birth certificates, she says. It fears that a contact register, as promised by the Minister of State for Health, Mr Austin Currie, would make no difference. People would only place their names on a register if they wished to be contacted in future by their child/parent.
Adoption agencies are criticised for how they handle requests for information from people seeking to contact their families of origin.
A report from the Adoption Review Group, made up of representatives of various statutory and voluntary bodies in the adoption field, noted that "the parties to adoption are sometimes displeased with the manner in which they are dealt with by the agencies". It said a code of practice should be drawn up and the Minister for Health and the Adoption Board should take the lead on this.