Most natural fathers of adopted people will continue to have their identities protected under new adoption legislation, it has emerged.
The identity of natural mothers will be revealed, however, as all adoptees will be entitled to their original birth certificate at the age of 18.
The Minister of State for Children, Ms Mary Hanafin, yesterday announced that the measures to be included in new legislation on adoption information would also apply to children in care. These include children fostered and raised in State or religious institutions such as reformatories and industrial schools.
Birth certificates of adopted people in the past rarely included the name of the father, and this continues to be the case with today's adoptions.
The father's name is more likely to be mentioned in the additional documents in the adoption file, but information from this will be filtered to ensure it does not disclose the identity of a parent, Ms Hanafin confirmed yesterday.
She said this was because there were constitutional issues concerning privacy attaching to information in the files.
The main points of the legislative changes outlined by Ms Hanafin yesterday are:
All children to be entitled to their original birth certificates at the age of 18.
They will also get personal, non-identifying information from adoption files. This would include such information as relevant medical histories, whether they have siblings and so on. This information will be non-identifying regardless of whether the adoption takes place before or after the new legislation is enacted.
A natural parent will have the right to a copy of the Adoption Certificate once the child is 18. This will provide the names of the adoptive parents.
Any party can put their name on a veto register which will make it illegal for another to contact them. The penalities have not yet been published.
The Adoption Board will also operate a voluntary contact register for natural parents and children who wish to get in touch with each other.
Counselling will be available to children and natural parents but only if they want it.
A tracing and reunion service will be provided by the State. It will be run by health boards and other agencies in conjunction with the Adoption Board.
In the case of adoptions after the new legislation goes into effect, the natural parent will be entitled to information about the child's progress and well-being.
The measures will affect about 40,000 adoptees and 45,000 people raised in care.
The measures received a cautious welcome from the Adopted People's Association and Barnardos. The Natural Parents Network said today marked the 18th anniversary of the first submission made by natural mothers to the State to allow them some forms of contact with their children.
pomorain@irish-times.ie