The Gazette 1973

but this has not yet been forthcoming. What is really required is a Special Committee to be set up by the Government to survey the whole working of the adop- tion procedure in Ireland; up to now, only minimal statistics are available. Adoption reforms: The present legislation on the subject in Northern Ireland is the Adoption Act of 1950, under which many useful regulations were issued. But the Irish Adoption Board has no statutory authority to issue regulations. In 1969, the Irish Adoption Board sub- mitted to the Minister, some suggested amendments to the Act; but for some obscurantist reason, Mr. Moran, the then Minister, rejected it and the proposed amendments. In England, there have been a great many important surveys on adoption, including the Guide to Adoption Practice published by the Advisory Council on Child care in 1970, known as the Houghton Report. There has been an unfortunate failure in the Republic to appreciate the importance of adoption as part of Social Legslation. Specific proposals for reform: Nowadays, sociologists like Father Good have come to realise that adoption should be primarily a process for finding a home and family for the homeless children. At present, the legislation is allegedly child- centred inasmuch as the welfare of the child is the first and paramount consideration but in fact it is mother-centred, inasmuch as the dominant idea in the Act is that the child is the property of the mother, and, short of killing or physically maltreating it, she can do just what she likes with it. If the mother wishes within the statutory period to get the child back, there are no safeguards provided for the child's welfare. It is proposed to amend Section 5 by extending the age under which children can be adopted from 7 to 18 years, and not to confine them to illegitimates and orphans. Section 6 could be amended by the provision that, if the mother of a child unreasonably with-holds her consent to an adoption order, then the Board could dispense with such consent and issue the order. In fact, the President of the High Court had thus held in April if the mother disappeared and could no longer be found. Under Section 8 of the proposed 1971 Bill, the Adoption Board can send out optional recommenda- tions to the Adoption Societies, if unsatisfactory, the Board, can cancel their registration. No provision has been made for a "Case Committee" of 3 persons to study the case which is standard practice in England and Northern Ireland. If the Board refuses to grant an Adoption Order, then the local authority must take custody of the child under the Children's Acts, but in practice the local authorities leave the child with the unsuitable adoptors for a long time. It is also time in accordance with the present Minister's undertaking that adoptors who have contracted a mixed marriage with a Catholic should not be deprived of the facilities to adopt. It would also be necessary to amend the form of the Catholic Baptismal Certificate, which refers specifically to "Adopters" and to the date of the Adoption order. Effect of foreign divorce: The whole problem had been considered by Kenny J. in Caffin Deed .—Bank of Ireland v. Caffin— (1971) I.R. 123. The first difficulty was to construe Article 17

Robinson said that for a long time, Family Law had not been taken seriously in Ireland as a subject in the University Course in Law, but this was now being remedied in Trinity College and in University College, Dublin; she then gave particulars of the extensive course in this subject in Trinity College. The Irish Adoption Acts: As regards legal adoption, Ireland was very slow to make provision for it. Legal Adoption had been intro- duced in England and Wales in 1926, in Northern Ireland in 1929, and in Scotland in 1930. In the Republic, eventually an organisation called the Adop- tion Society (Ireland) was formed in 1948, but, owing to ecclesiastical pressure, there was some delay in intro- ducing legislation, on the ground that the right of the natural mother and child should be respected.. In 1952, the Government, having received the tacit approval of the Hierarchy, decided to introduce an Adoption Bill. This provided for the setting up of an Adoption Board with a Chairman with legal training, and six voluntary lay members. The Board may in suitable cases make adoption orders, but the child to be adopted must be illegitimate or an orphan, and be between the ages of 6 months and 7 years. The applicants must be a married couple or a widow of the same religion as the child and his parents, but in the event of a mixed marriage with a Catholic, no adoption can take place; they must be suitable and of good moral character. When adopted, the child will have the same status and property rights as if it were legitimate, and consequently the natural guardian loses all parental rights. The Adoption Act 1964 makes minor amendments, and provides for the adoption of legitimate children, and the Board can in limited cir- cumstances extend the time for applying for an adop- tion order. In the case of an application by a married couple, the application will be granted only if they have been married for at least 3 years, and are over 25 years of age. Adoption case law: As to case law, The State (C.A.) v. The Adoption Board —(1957) I.J.R. decided to quash an application for adoption where the husband was unaware that his wife had made the application. In Re J. An Infant (1966) I.R. the natural mother had subsequently married the putative father, after the child had been adopted, and successfully applied to the High Court to have custody of the child on the ground that the child had been legitimated by subsequent marriage, and that they were consequently a "Family" within the Constitution. In the State (Nicolaou) v. The Adoption Board —(1966) I.R.—the Supreme Court up- held the constitutionality of the Adoption Act 1952 insofar as the Board had refused the application of a putative Cypriot father to have custody of his daughter, not to refuse to make an adoption order without hearing him; the Supreme Court stated that the applicant had no natural personal right in respect of the child, which seems very stringent, and is in complete contrast with the recognition of the rights of a natural father in the British Guardianship of Minors Act 1971. There has been great pressure urged for reform in Adoption law—in fact a Private Members Bill was introduced in 1971 and was printed as the Adoption Bill 1972. On the second reading debate in July 1972, the Minister for Justice stated tfrat the Government would introduce a similar Bill before the end of 1972,