The Gazette 1993

APRIL . 1993

GAZETTE

N W

Barnardo 's Seek Change in Adoption Law:

the intervening years. Both adopted people and adoptive parents are finding their voice in Ireland in the media and in other outlets. Society here is becoming more open about many issues which were previously kept secret. Nora Gibbons says the issue is one of human rights and she feels it is an issue to which the legal profession in Ireland should give some thought and that the profession should encourage a change in legislation. Adoption practices in the past, although very successful, were shrouded in secrecy. Nora Gibbons believes that the way forward is by keeping confidentiality but letting go of secrecy. She also asked solicitors to consider Barnardo's when giving advice to clients about bequests. pes PETROCABGQ MARME SURVEYORS LTD. Capt. Thomas C. Nash M. INST. PET. Marine Consultancy; Independent Marine Surveyors; Vessel & Terminal Safety Inspection; Recruitment; Procedures Manuals. Cooleen House, Rushbrooke, Cobh, Co. Cork. Tel: 021-811677 Fax: 021-813009 Marine Expert Witness; Ship to Ship Transfer;

adoptees in many instances have a need to know of their origins. Different countries have taken different paths to meet that need. In Scotland since 1930, in England since 1975 and in Northern Ireland since 1989, adult adoptees have a legal right to their original birth certificate. Ireland has not yet seriously considered producing similar legislation, although a committee which reported in 1984 to the then Minister for Health, Barry Desmond, formed a majority view in favour of informing birth parents that from that point onwards their counselling and that the wishes of the birth mother concerning future access to the birth records be made known. The majority view of the Committee accepted an absolute right by an adopted person to have his original birth certificate. However, only a minority of the Committee was in favour of any such right of access being made retrospective on the grounds that it would be a breach of faith of those parents who had placed children for adoption on the assumption that there would be no change in laws governing these placements. Barnardo's believe a committee would come to a different view on the matter today because there has been a significant shift in attitude in child would have access to his original birth certificate. The Committee also recommended

Barnardo's Adoption Advice Service has called for a review of adoption law in Ireland in order to give adult adoptees a legal right to their original birth certificate. The organisation says it is receiving an increased number of enquiries - now running at 60 or 70 each month - from people who want to trace each other. Nora Gibbons, team leader of the Adoption Advice Service, says: "It is very difficult to explain to an adult in Ireland that although they could be entrusted with many important jobs within our State, for example, they could be anything from the President to a member of the Dáil, head of school, solicitor, barrister, social worker, that the one thing that they do not have a right to know is actually who they are or where they came from." Barnardo's say that over 38,000 adoption orders have been granted by the Adoption Board since the introduction of the 1952 Adoption Act. However, the nature of Irish society, in common with other societies has undergone considerable change since the 1950s. "Our clear and established trend is following that of other European and developed countries in that we have an increasing diversity of family styles and adoption is an option chosen by far fewer single mothers," says Nora Gibbons.

Increasingly, according to Barnardo's, it is accepted that adult

Doyle Court Reporters principal: Áine O'Farrell

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