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Adoption
Rights Alliance campaigns to ensure that the Irish government enshrines the rights of the
adopted child and Ireland's
50,000 adult adopted people in
legislation. Our mission is to advocate equal human and civil rights for
those affected by Ireland's closed secret adoption system. The most
recent adoption legislation - the 2010 Adoption Bill - was enacted without a single provision
for the people affected most by adoption - the adopted child and adopted
adults.
Adoption
Rights Alliance believes that the following legislative changes should be made:
- Access
to Birth Certificates
- Access
to Adoption Files
- Statutory
based information and tracing services
- Strict
regulations for adoption agency practice and procedure
- The
deregistration of all church based adoption agencies
- Safeguarding
of all adoption files
- The
right to know you are adopted
- Inquiry
into illegal adoptions
- Inquiry
into vaccine trials
- Adoption
Authority operations under Freedom of Information &
Ombudsman’s Acts
- Stricter
regulations for intercountry adoptions & the abolition of
bilateral agreements
- Inquiry
into the treatment
of women in Mother and Baby Homes
- Information
rights for those conceived by assisted human
reproduction/embryo adoption
In
2003, along with other people affected by and interested in adoption, a
group of adult adopted people took part in an extensive adoption
legislation consultation process arranged by Brian Lenihan TD, the then
Junior Minister with responsibility for children. The consultation
process was designed to gather the wishes of adopted people on the
important subject of post-adoption rights and services; an area almost
completely ignored by the primary 1952 legislation. Hundreds of
submissions were made and the overwhelming message was for state funded
and state run search and reunion services and for new legislation
enshrining the rights of adopted people to obtain their birth
certificates and to trace natural family members.
The
2010 Adoption Bill sponsored by Minister Barry Andrews, then Minister
for Children completely ignored post-adoption rights and
services and reduces adoption from a “life-long
event” to a base contractual process and does not include provision
for adopted people to know that they are adopted!
The
legislation merely shoehorned the provisions of the Hague
Convention concerning intercountry adoption into the old 1952 statute
and adopted people continue to be denied access to their birth
certificates, early hospital records and family histories. Equally
disturbing is that there is zero provision for post-adoption support
services for families who have recently adopted.
On
June 12th 2009 the Irish government pledged to cherish
all the children of the state equally but the 2010 Adoption Act,
a bald Charter for Adoption, allows 57 year old statute to
continue discrimination against 50,000+ adopted people and their
families.
If
you agree that adopted people should have equal rights visit this link
to learn how to help.
Click the links for
our Mission
Statement, Aims
& Objectives
and Public
Disclosure Statement
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