Sir, – The interests of the adopted child must always have primacy in adoption legislation. Though the natural parents should be entitled not to be contacted, the act of putting a child up for adoption must not wipe out access to the child’s right to know of their origin and have access to critical health history. Though as an adoptee, I have no current personal interest or need to seek out information on my own background, but many others for good reasons do.
I am sure it was not John B Reid's (July 29th) intention to be offensive, but I find his language to be so. To write that "the child they might place for adoption might not soon return to them" (we are not lost cats) and "adoptive parents would no longer be confident that their adopted child would definitely be theirs" (children are not anyone's possessions) suggests a lack of knowledge of adoption law and processes.
Adoption is a complex matter, and the proposed Bill simply helps to reduce some of the challenges that adopted children (and their adopting parents) often have to face. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL O’LEARY,
Monkstown,
Co Dublin.