THE rights of fathers in adoption procedures are to be recognised in law. The Minister of State for Justice, Mr Austin Currie, moving the Adoption Bill, said it arose out of a Supreme Court judgment refusing the father's right to challenge an adoption placement. The judgment was later overturned by the European Court of Human Rights.
Under the Bill, if a father is granted guardianship by a court, adoption could not proceed without his consent. If he was awarded custody then that would end the matter as the child would no longer be available for adoption.
The Bill also provided recognition of foreign adoptions. This applied to adopt ions effected in countries whose adoption laws permitted termination of pregnancies, including China. Fianna Fail introduced a private members' Bill earlier this year and the Government was sympathetic but considered the Bill defective and could not accept it.
The Fianna Fail spokesman on equality and law reform, Dr Michael Woods, welcomed the Bill and said the appalling revelations about the plight of millions of children, mostly girls, abandoned in orphanages in China touched deep emotions in Irish people. The restriction on foreign adoptions in our law prevented these children being adopted by Irish people.
The Bill which Fianna Fail put forward would have recognised such adopt ions. A large number couples had been assessed and were now anxious to proceed with adoptions. "They can immediately offer loving homes to children who are living in appalling conditions."
The entire approach of the Government to this matter was callous having regard to the urgent and sensitive needs of those involved. He would be seeking to make amendments in committee so that a more flexible method would be available to meet the need to recognise adopt ions made by Irish couples abroad.
The Bill would give fathers a say in adoption placements, but he would examine it in detail at committee to ensure that adequate safeguards were included to protect the interests of the highly vulnerable people caught up in these human dramas.
Ms Helen Keogh, PD spokeswoman on equality and law reform, said the Bill did not address the recognition of foreign adoptions in a comprehensive and inclusive way. Parents of adopted children from countries such as Paraguay would require further action from the Government.
Regarding fathers' rights in adoption placements, she said that while fathers had certain rights of decision over their children's futures those rights carried responsibilities. "All too often the 'lone parent' is the single mother. In the vast majority of one parent families it is the mother who has been left 'holding the baby'."
The Minister should immediately set up a voluntary contact register so that adopted people would be able to contact their birth relatives in a sensitive and confidential manner.
