News

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26th February 2012

My mother went really quiet, then she said: "Yes, I am your mummy, but you had another mummy"
For years, she came up against secrets and bureaucratic lies, but Marita Conlon-McKenna eventually managed to trace the woman who put her up for adoption in the late 1950s
Click here to read this article by Marita Conlon-McKenna in the Irish Independent

20th February 2012

Child traffic ring lawyer was jailed in similar case
The lawyer linked to an alleged child trafficking ring in Mexico, which saw 11 Irish couples questioned, was jailed more than 20 years ago on suspicion of the same crime.
Click here to read this article from Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner.

Names of boys burned out of care home released
THE NAMES of Protestant orphan boys burnt out of their Connemara residential care home during the Civil War have been released for the first time. Many of them were believed to have been sent to Australia
Click here to read this article by Michael Parsons in the Irish Times 

Law to aid birth parent search
LEGISLATION to help adopted people trace their birth parents will be introduced by the government in tandem with the children's referendum this year, writes Sarah McInerney.
Click here to read this article by Sarah McInerney in the Sunday Times

17th February 2012

Liveline adoption coverage
This week adoption was discussed on RTÉ's Liveline show.  Click here to listen.

Children's group given €1.5m for referendum campaign
TWO PHILANTHROPIC groups have provided €1.5 million to an organisation that is likely to play a major role in campaigning for a Yes vote in the forthcoming children’s referendum.

Legislation to accompany aspects of the referendum relating to adoption will be published in advance of the referendum.

Click here to read this article by Carl O'Brien in the Irish Times 

14th February 2012

Where did I come from?
Tracing your birth parents can be rewarding, but don’t do it on your own, writes SHEILA WAYMAN in the Irish Times.  Click here to read more

6th February 2012

US not adopting from Vietnam
The United States has said it will not resume adoptions from Vietnam as the country "does not yet have a fully Hague-compliant process in place".
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner (Saturday, Feb 4th)

The case that convulsed a nation
ON FEBRUARY 12TH, 1992, a short report appeared on the front of The Irish Times: “State Attempts to Stop Girl’s Abortion.” The careful 235 words were almost lost in the surrounding headlines about Albert Reynolds’ dramatic first day as taoiseach, when he sacked eight of 12 serving ministers.
Click here to read this article by Kathy Sheridan in the Irish Times (Saturday, Feb 4th)

1st February 2012

Adopt change
The discovery of a Mexican child trafficking ring brought questions about inter-country adoption to the fore. However, this should have happened long ago, writes Conall Ó Fátharta
Click here to read this op-ed from Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner.

An issue that cannot be easily solved
Despite laws governing inter-country adoptions, questions still remain and need constant monitoring.
Click here to read this article from Dr. Aisling Parkes and Dr. Simone  McCaughrenin today's Irish Examiner.

Older articles:

Mexican adoptions not affected
THERE IS as yet no evidence that uncompleted adoptions from Mexico will be affected by recent events in the country in which 11 Irish couples have been questioned in connection with illegal adoptions, according to the chairman of the Adoption Authority.
Click here to read this article by Carol Coulter in the Irish Times (Mon, Jan 30th)

Plan to ban anonymous donors 'will limit supply'
PLANS TO ban the use of anonymous sperm or egg donations in Ireland will lead to fewer donors and an increase in the cost of assisted human reproduction, a conference heard at the weekend.
Click here to read this article by Carl O'Brien in the Irish Times (Mon, Jan 30th)

Fitzgerald challenged on adoptions
A CLAIM by the Minister for Children that there is no evidence that previous adoptions in Mexico by Irish couples are unsafe has been challenged in the Dáil.
Click here to read this article by Marie O'Halloran in the Irish Times (Fri, January 27th)

2010 Act saves adoptive child and couple from pitfalls
ANALYSIS: THE QUESTIONING of 11 Irish couples in connection with alleged illegal adoptions in Mexico has highlighted once again the pitfalls to be found in the world of intercountry adoptions.
Click here to read this op-ed by Carol Coulter in the Irish Times (Fri, January 27th)

Eleventh child is seized in adoption probe
An eleventh child has been seized in Mexico as part of an investigation into a child trafficking ring which sought to sell babies to 11 Irish couples.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner (Friday, January 27th)

Mexico adoptions: Irish couples 'thought process was legal'
The Irish couples ensnared in an apparent illegal adoption ring in western Mexico thought they were involved in a legal process and are devastated by allegations organisers were trafficking in children, the families said.
Click here to read this Irish Examiner article (Tuesday, January 24th)

Baby girl abducted in illegal Mexican adoption ring
ZAPOPAN, Mexico (AP) — Karla Zapeda was approached by a woman asking to use the 15-year-old's baby girl in a two-week photo shoot for $755 ($10,000 pesos), a small fortune for a teen mother who earns $180 a month at a sandwich stand.
Click here to read this Associated Press article (Tuesday, January 24th)

25th January 2012

Adoption in the Media
Click here for coverage of adoption tracing issues on 98FM and Prime Time's piece on the Mexican illegal adoption story.

No adoptions from abroad since new law was passed
None of the almost 200 couples approved to adopt under the new Adoption Act have managed to bring a child back to Ireland.  Under the act, which came into force in Nov 2010, Irish people can only adopt from countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption or with which Ireland has a bilateral agreement.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner (Monday, January 23th)

Uruguay approves $513,000 settlement for disappearance, illegal adoption during dictatorship
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Uruguay’s president has approved a $513,000 payment to Macarena Gelman, who was illegally adopted during the dictatorship after her mother was tortured and disappeared.
Click here to read this Associated Press article in the Washington Post

24th January 2012

Prime Time on Mexican adoptions
Prime Time will be covering the issue of Mexican adoptions tonight.  Claire McGettrick from Adoption Rights Alliance was interviewed for the programme today.  Tune in to RTÉ One at 9.30pm tonight.  Click here for the RTÉ Player 

Mexican baby-trafficking ring operated for 20 years
An alleged baby-trafficking ring in Mexico, which sought to sell babies to 11 Irish couples, has been in operation for more than 20 years, authorities have claimed.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Couples devastated by adoption scam
Eleven Irish couples caught up in an alleged adoption scam in Mexico have been left devastated by the affair, they said tonight.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Irish couples caught up in illegal adoption operation in Mexico
THE BOARD of the Adoption Authority of Ireland is to meet today to discuss the issue of Irish couples who have been caught up in an adoption scam in Mexico.
Click here to read this article by Ronan McGreevy in the Irish Times

23rd January 2012

Fitzgerald performs U-turn on adoption tracing rights
Retrospective information and tracing rights are to be offered in the upcoming Adoption Bill, in a significant U-turn by Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald.  The move has been broadly welcomed by groups representing adopted people, who had feared that tracing and information rights were only to be offered in relation to future adoptions.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Susan Lohan on Talking Point Panel
Click here to listen back to Susan Lohan from Adoption Rights Alliance on Talking Point with Sarah Carey on Saturday 21st January.

Hospital sorry for forced adoptions
THE Royal Women's Hospital has admitted that single women were treated differently from married mothers until the mid-1970s and apologised for the pain and suffering that the practice caused.
Click here to read this article by Alana Rosenbaum in theage.com.au 

Mexico authorities unravel child trafficking ring
ZAPOPAN, Mexico (AP) — Life seemed to give Karla Zepeda a break when a woman came to her dusty neighborhood of cinderblock homes and dirt roads looking for babies to photograph in an anti-abortion ad campaign.
Click here to read this Associated Press article by OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

21st January 2012

Susan Lohan from Adoption Rights Alliance will be on Talking Point with Sarah Carey on Saturday 21st January from 9am.

Text: 53106 Email: talkingpoint@newstalk.ie

Questioning of couples in adoption case ‘disturbing’
CHILDREN’S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said the questioning of 11 Irish couples in relation to an adoption racket in Mexico is a "very disturbing situation".
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner 

Adoption red-tape is a cruel process but a necessary one
Anyone who complains about the bureaucracy which can be encountered when engaging with the State -- be it applying for the dole, or headage payments for livestock -- should attempt to adopt a child from abroad to get matters in perspective.
Click here to read this article in the Irish Independent by Alison O'Connor

Mexico baby trafficking dates back over 20 years
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — A baby-trafficking ring aiming to pass infants on for adoption had operated for more than 20 years in Mexico and sent children to Italy as well as Ireland, according to a Mexican official.
Click here to read this Associated Press article

20th January 2012

Couples held in Mexico facing ban on adoptions
THE Irish couples being questioned by police in Mexico who are investigating alleged child trafficking now risk being banned from adopting in the future.
Click here to read this story by Eilish O'Regan in the Irish Independent

Children in adoption scam show signs of sexual abuse
FOUR of the 10 children rescued during an alleged adoption scam to sell babies to Irish couples have shown signs of sexual abuse.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Authority satisfied registered Mexican adoptions safe
THE Adoption Authority (AAI) said it is satisfied all registered adoptions here from Mexico are "safe and secure" following more arrests in connection with an alleged trafficking ring planning to sell babies to Irish couples.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Mexico prosecutor says 4 children seized in child-trafficking ring show signs of sexual abuse
GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Four of the 10 children seized in western Mexico as part of a child-trafficking investigation involving Irish couples show signs of sexual abuse, a Mexican official said Wednesday.
Click here to read this Associated Press article published in the Washington Post

16th January 2012

Irish couples caught up in Mexico adoption scam
THE Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed it is in contact with a number of Irish couples caught up in an alleged adoption scam in Mexico.
Click here to read this article by Caroline O’Doherty and Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Couples quizzed in adoption scam
THE Department of Foreign Affairs has refused to say if it issued adoption visas to 11 Irish couples caught up in a Mexican "babies for sale" scam.
Click here to read this Irish Independent article

Warning over illegal private adoptions from Mexico
THE CHAIRMAN of the Adoption Authority of Ireland has warned prospective adoptive parents not to enter into any private arrangements in Mexico.  Geoffrey Shannon said while some individual states within Mexico allow private adoption, none sanction private inter-country adoption.
Click here to read this article by Fiona Gartland and Gerard Couzens in the Irish Times

Irish couples quizzed over Mexican 'adoption' scam
The Republic's department of foreign affairs has refused to say if it issued adoption visas to 11 Irish couples caught up in a Mexican "babies for sale" scam.
Click here to read this article by Anne-Marie Walsh and Gerard Couzens in the Belfast Telegraph

15th January 2012

ELEVEN Irish families quizzed in Mexico over adoption ‘racket’
Seven Mexican babies have been seized from Irish couples after ­police in Guadalajara smashed an international child-­smuggling ring.
Click here to read this article by Sheila Flynn and Gerard Couzens in the Sunday Mail

Irish couples to be quizzed over illegal adoptions
ELEVEN Irish couples are said to have been caught up in an investigation into illegal child adoptions in Mexico.  The Irish couples were reportedly due to be interviewed by state prosecutors over the weekend as police investigated a suspected child adoption ring in Guadalajara.
Click here to read this article by Gerard Couzens in the Sunday Independent

10th January 2012

RIP Mary Raftery

RTÉ News:  The death has taken place of journalist Mary Raftery following an illness.  Click here for further details

Visit the Justice for Magdalenes website

2nd January 2012

Numbers of adopted children in care unknown
THE number of adopted children in care is not known by the HSE, the Department of Health or the Department of Children, despite it being raised as a concern by social workers as far back as 2005.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

How Ethiopia's Adoption Industry Dupes Families and Bullies Activists
As the "searchers" who track down adopted children's histories increasingly uncover stories of fraud, corruption, and worse, these specialists are facing threats and even violence.
Click here to read more

6th December 2011

Update:  Banished Babies second edition
Due to production problems, the second edition of Banished Babies will not be available until January.  Check back soon for news!

Recent articles:

Uniting Church admits to forced adoption
THE Uniting Church in South Australia has accepted responsibility for the past practice of forced adoptions.  It has urged other welfare and church groups to prepare for a wave of victims seeking help for decades of suffering.
Click here to read more

Surprise, surprise, it's a baby
While most undetected pregnancies are discovered by 25-30 weeks, there are at least five or six cases a year in Ireland where the mother does not know she is pregnant until she goes into labour. But how can a pregnancy go undetected for so long
Click here to read this article by Arlene Harris in the Irish Times

Officials investigate US adoptions
A DELEGATION from the Adoption Authority have visited the US to examine "a number of concerns" about adoptions between Ireland and the US, in particular from Florida.
Florida is the most popular state for Irish people who wish to adopt children from the US. Five children have been adopted from there this year. However, issues have been raised about adoption practices in the state for some time.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner 

Adoption practises - Children are not sale items
Under the Adoption Act 2010 people in Ireland can only adopt children from countries that have signed the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption, or from countries with which this country has a bilateral adoption agreement.
Click here to read this Irish Examiner editorial 

Adoptions funded despite suspension
THE HEALTH Service Executive in Cork has confirmed it paid almost €420,000 to an adoption agency specialising in adoptions from Vietnam for 2010, despite the fact that no adoptions from Vietnam had taken place since 2009. This is double the amount previously reported.
Click here to read this article in the Irish Times by Carol Coulter

Warning over lack of laws on assisted human reproduction
THE GOVERNMENT’s special rapporteur on child protection has expressed “profound concern” that the State’s failure to legislate for assisted human reproduction is violating vulnerable children’s rights.
Click here to read this article by Carl O'Brien in the Irish Times

The babies born into a legal limbo
Surrogacy in Ireland is shrouded in secrecy and a lack of legislation has turned it into a minefield.
Click here to read this article in the Irish Times by Alana Kirk Gillham

21st century baby
THE FIRST live birth following in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) just over 30 years ago marked the start of a reproductive revolution. It involved fertilising a woman’s eggs with sperm, before transferring them back into the uterus a few days later. Today, assisted human reproduction in Ireland is a booming industry. Couples are increasingly choosing to have children later in life, which increases the likelihood of fertility problems. Restrictions on international adoption mean that many would-be parents are exploring other ways of having a child. As a result, up to 3,000 children are born here each year thanks to IVF and other high-tech interventions.
Click here to read this Irish Times editorial

Bulgarian baby sellers arrested in Greece
Six people were arrested on Friday for alleged involvement in the sale of a 25-day-old baby for 12,000 euros, on the Greek Island of Crete. The illegal adoption involved the sale of a Bulgarian baby arranged by Bulgarian intermediaries.
Click here to read more

8th November 2011

Banished Babies second edition now available from Amazon

Mike Milotte has completed a second edition of his groundbreaking book Banished Babies, first published in 1997.  Click here to purchase from Amazon

Description from Amazon:

"The story of a baby traffic organized by nuns, sanctioned by an archbishop, administered by civil servants and approved by politicians - all of whose main concern was secrecy. What the critics said of the first edition:

A brilliant expose of the shabby history of sectarian cruelty to unmarried women who became pregnant in Ireland in the 1950s Susan McKay, Sunday Tribune 

This book would make your blood boil - one of the finest pieces of journalism this reader has come across for many a day. The author, Mike Milotte, has done his profession proud. Padraig O'Morain, The Irish Times

A salutary story, too long untold, and another nail in the coffin of Dev's mythical mystical Ireland. The Big Issue 

An astonishing story, meticulously told - and an excellent piece of journalism. An Phoblacht

Mike Milotte's damning expose of Church-State collusion in banishing thousands of vulnerable 'illegitimate' children from Ireland in the 1950s and 60s was first published to critical acclaim in 1997, and quickly achieved iconic status. For this new, updated and enlarged edition the author has added previously untold personal stories from some of the 'banished babies' he met in the intervening period - stories that further illuminate the murky shadows of this official, but long-concealed child-export business. This second edition also examines the Irish State's failure to fulfill promises - made in the wake of the book's first appearance - to adequately facilitate search and reunion among the 'banished babies' and their natural parents."

27th October 2011

New adoption legislation will give adopted people universal rights
New legislation when introduced will ensure that Ireland’s adopted people will have the same rights as others around the world.
That is according to Galway West Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames who has commended the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, on her commitment to introducing a bill on adoption information enabling adopted people to access their birth certificates and early care records.
Click here to read this article by Mary O’Connor in the Galway Advertiser

20th October 2011

Press Release: Adoption rights group looks forward to information legislation
Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA), a group advocating for equal human and civil rights for those affected by Ireland's closed secret adoption system, says it had a constructive meeting yesterday with Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald.  ARA welcomed the news that the Minister plans to publish heads of bill for adoption information legislation in the coming months.
Click here to read today's press release

Recent articles/news items:

Order of Business, Seanad Éireann Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Many thanks to Senator Susan O'Keeffe for raising issues of concern in the Seanad.
Click here to view

Silence is deafening over babies scandal (Tuesday, October 11, 2011)
THE revelations on the Prime Time programme on RTÉ last week concerning the testing of multiple vaccinations on babies in mother and child homes in the 50s and 60s were shocking to the core.
Click here to read Jim Jackman's letter to the Irish Examiner

300,000 babies stolen from their parents - and sold for adoption: Haunting BBC documentary exposes 50-year scandal of baby trafficking by the Catholic church in Spain
Up to 300,000 Spanish babies were stolen from their parents and sold for adoption over a period of five decades, a new investigation reveals.
Click here to read this article by Polly Dunbar in the Daily Mail 

Chinese orphanages buying babies for foreign adoption, investigation finds
CHINESE orphanages may still be buying babies and offering them for foreign adoption, Sky News discovered in an investigation.
It follows a series of scandals linking China's foreign adoption program to baby trafficking and the illegal confiscation of children.
Click here to view this Daily Telegraph (Australia) article

13th October 2011

Shocking abuse of innocents
LAST Thursday night’s Prime Time special investigation by journalist Katie Hannon on RTÉ One television revealed another truly shocking catalogue of abuse of innocent children in institutions run by various religious orders on behalf of the State some fifty years or so ago. Not only were children in mother and baby homes used as guinea pigs for the testing of vaccines, those who died had their bodies taken away and dissected for medical science research without any parental consent.
Click here to view this editorial in The Southern Star 

11th October 2011

Universal Periodic Review
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is holding a public consultation on Ireland’s Third National Report to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which will take place on Thursday 3 November 2011 from 10am-12.30pm, in Iveagh House, 80 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2. 

Written submissions on the draft report should be sent to ICESCR2011@dfa.ie by close of business Friday 28 October 2011. 

Click here to view the report

Click here for our UPR page

Keeping adoption safe
GREAT SOCIAL changes in Ireland since the 1970s have meant that very few Irish children are available for adoption. As a result, Irish couples wishing to adopt have been looking abroad, and since the 1980s children have been adopted in significant numbers from places as far apart as Romania and Latin America.
Click here to read this Irish Times editorial.

Adoption agency funded despite Vietnam suspension
THE HEALTH Service Executive paid more than €200,000 in 2010 to an adoption agency in Cork which deals with adoptions from Vietnam, despite the fact adoptions from that country were suspended in May 2009.
Click here to read this article by Carol Coulter in the Irish Times

Authority to travel for talks on adoption agreements
DELEGATIONS FROM the Adoption Authority of Ireland will travel to Mexico, the Philippines and the United States to discuss adoption agreements, the International Adoption Association was told at the weekend.
Click here to read this article by Carol Coulter in the Irish Times

HSE still without vaccine trial files (October 01, 2011)
SOME 15,000 adoption files held by the Sacred Heart Convent at Bessborough in Cork have yet to be transferred to the Health Service Executive (HSE) — two months after the initial deadline for the transfer.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Recent articles

Hundreds of Irish babies used in medical research and dissection (October 8, 2011)
Babies used as research subjects without single mothers’ consent 
A disturbing documentary that ran on RTÉ’s Prime Time revealed the gruesome fact that hundreds of Irish babies born out of wedlock were used in medical research without their mothers’ consent. 
Click here to read this article by Jordana Kozupsky at IrishCentral.com 

Forced adoptions heartache (October 09, 2011)
IN 1969 Robyn Cohen gave birth to a baby girl at the former Gore St public hospital in South Hobart.  She was 18 and, like thousands of other young unmarried mothers, was given no choice but to put her baby up for adoption.  Mrs Cohen is one of more than 300 women so far to give evidence to a Senate committee investigating forced adoption in Australia.
Click here to read this article by Blair Richards in The Mercury (Australia) 

Vietnam ‘eager’ to resume adoptions with Ireland (September 20, 2011)
VIETNAM is eager to treat Ireland as a "priority country" for adoption following its ratification of the Hague Convention.
Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald said a number of recent developments have taken place in relation to inter-country adoption with Vietnam and that the country is close to ratifying the convention, which ensures that international adoption occurs in the best interests of children.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

China Fires 12 After Inquiry on Adoptions (September 29, 2011)
BEIJING — Twelve government employees have been fired and stripped of their Communist Party membership after an investigation into allegations that family planning officials kidnapped children in an impoverished rural area in the southern Chinese province of Hunan, People’s Daily, the party’s official newspaper, reported Thursday.
Click here to read this article by Sharon LaFraniere in the New York Times

8th October 2011

Adoption groups demand inquiry into dissections
ADOPTION groups have received a large surge in calls to helplines following revelations that hundreds of dead babies from mother and baby homes were dissected in universities.
Click here to read the above article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner 

7th October 2011

Adoption Rights Alliance strongly condemns use of deceased infants in anatomical experiments
Adoption Rights Alliance, a group advocating for equal human and civil rights for those affected by Ireland's closed secret adoption system, has strongly condemned the use of the bodies of deceased infants in anatomical experiments, as well as the use of children in Mother and Baby Homes in vaccine trials, as reported in RTÉ’s Prime Time programme on Thursday 6^th October.
Click here to read the press release above.

400 babies were dissected at universities
HUNDREDS of dead babies from mother-and-baby homes across the country were dissected in Irish universities — without the knowledge or permission of their mothers.
Click here to read the above article by Claire O’Sullivan in today's Irish Examiner

Prime Time 6th October
In a full-length film, Prime Time's Katie Hannon reveals details of how children from mother and baby homes were used as test subjects by pharmaceutical companies who were trialling new vaccines. Click here to view.

6th October 2011

Adoption Authority loses second chief executive in 15 months
THE ADOPTION Authority has lost its second chief executive in just over a year after Elizabeth Canavan resigned just five months in the job.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

1st October 2011

First ever agency audit uncovers 50 cases of illegal adoption
THE first ever audit of the Adoption Authority’s records has uncovered approximately 50 cases of illegal adoptions.
Click here to read this article in today's Irish Examiner by Conall Ó Fátharta

28th September 2011

Nepal comes to terms with foreign adoptions tragedy
Hundreds of parents in Nepal are struggling to come to terms with the fact that their children have been adopted by Western couples without their consent.
Click here to read this BBC article by Thomas Bell 

26th September 2011

Parliamentary Questions
Click here for the latest Parliamentary Questions on adoption issues.

Armenia Considers Changing Adoption Procedures Amid Allegations Of Corruption
YEREVAN -- The Armenian government is considering changes in its rules and procedures for international adoptions in an effort to stamp out alleged corrupt practices.
Click here to read this article from Radio Free Europe

Rights of parents being put ahead of children at risk, says law expert
THE HEALTH Service Executive is pursuing an “overdeferential” approach to the rights of parents at the expense of children at risk, the Government’s special rapporteur for child protection Geoffrey Shannon has said.
Click here to read this article by Lorna Siggins in the Irish Times

19th September 2011

Parliamentary Questions
Click here for the latest Parliamentary Questions on adoption issues.

7th September 2011

Guatemalan Court Rules on Child Abduction for Adoption Case
Loyda Rodriguez finally received a long-awaited Guatemalan court order on July 29, 2011, which found her daughter’s intercountry adoption to the U.S. to be illegal. The court order gives a 60-day window for return of the child.
Click here to read this blog piece by Karen Smith Rotabi, on Americas Quarterly

ARGENTINA: Purging the Legal System of Dictatorship Accomplices
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 6 (IPS) - As human rights cases from Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship move ahead in the courts, cases of judges and prosecutors who were accomplices in the crimes are coming to light.
Click here to read the latest on illegal adoptions in Argentina

6th September 2011

One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring
Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half siblings — an extended family of sorts for modern times.
Click here to read this article by JACQUELINE MROZ in the New York Times

5th September 2011

15,000 adoption files still to be transferred over to HSE
SOME 15,000 adoption files, including those relating to controversial vaccine trials carried out on children at a mother-and-baby home run by the Sacred Heart Convent at Bessborough in Cork, have yet to be transferred to the HSE.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

96FM coverage of files issue
Adoption support groups are demanding to know the precise location of up to 15,000 files, once held by the Sacred Heart Adoption Society in Cork.  The agency was formerly based at the Bessboro mother & baby home in Blackrock, but also held files for Seán Ross Abbey in Tipperary and Castlepollard Home in Westmeath.  The Sacred Heart order of nuns is now under pressure to state exactly were the files are being stored, after the HSE said it doesn't yet have them.
Click here for PJ Coogan's report

RIP June Goulding
It was with deep sadness that we belatedly learned of the death of one of our heros, June Goulding (aka June Crotty), who died in July 2010.  In her book, The Light in the Window, June courageously wrote about what she witnessed during her time as a midwife in the Sacred Heart Mother and Baby Home in Bessboro, Cork.  June will always have a special place in the hearts of those of us who are affected by Ireland's closed, secret adoption system and she has well and truly earned her place in Irish adoption history.

Recent articles:

Secret jury selection held in local Russian adoption death case
A York County judge said information was withheld from court calendar and dockets intentionally.  A jury has been seated in secret for the internationally high-profile case of a York County couple accused of killing their 7-year-old adopted Russian son. The presiding judge said this was done primarily out of fear that coverage by the York Daily Record/Sunday News would taint potential jurors.
Click here to read this article by RICK LEE in the Daily Record/Sunday News

31st August 2011

New photos added
New photos of St. Clare's, Stamullen, Co. Meath (kindly donated by Marie Cunniffe Stubbs) have been added to our History and Heritage section.  Click here to view.

Recent articles:

Woman convicted of child abuse in alleged ploy to appear on Dr Phil
AN ALASKAN WOMAN who squirted hot sauce into the mouth of her adopted Russian son for lying about getting in trouble in school has been convicted of misdemeanor child abuse in what prosecutors said was a ploy to get on the Dr Phil TV show.
Click here to read this article from The Journal

Jessica Beagley, Alaska Woman, Convicted Of Child Abuse After Squirting Hot Sauce Into Adopted Son's Mouth
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A woman who squirted hot sauce into the mouth of her adopted Russian son for lying about getting in trouble in school was convicted Tuesday of misdemeanor child abuse in what prosecutors said was a ploy to get on the "Dr. Phil" TV show.
Click here to read this article by Mary Pemberton in the Huffington Post

A loving home, gay or straight, is what a child needs
Bishop Christopher Jones's comments on gay marriage don't address the real issue
Click here to read this article by Colum Kenny in the Sunday Independent

Guatemalan Court Order Rattles Foreign Adoption Community
The story about a young, missing Guatemalan girl whose mother searched for her for five years and eventually found she had been adopted by a couple in Missouri has been floating around for a couple of years now. But the latest news is that the mother, Loyda Rodriguez Morales, has essentially won her case. CNN reported on Monday that the Guatemalan government had ordered the girl returned, and that because it was considered a case of human trafficking, would call Interpol to enforce the order if the adoptive parents didn't comply. According to Erin Siegal, a fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University who's been covering the case closely, that's an unprecedented move in the world of international adoptions.

Click here to read this article by Adam Martin in The Atlantic Wire

Twin brother, sister marry one another
In a remarkable and disturbing twist of fate, British twins who were separated at birth met, fell in love and married without knowing they were brother and sister.
Click here to read this article from 2008 by Ellen Tumposky and Jonathan Lemire in the New York Daily News.

24th August 2011

New helpline arrangements
Our helpline is now operated from 10am to 12pm on Wednesdays.  Click here for further information.

22nd August 2011

‘I want my son to know he was adopted’
TRESSA REEVES, whose son was illegally adopted and registered as the natural child of the adoptive parents, says she has received no assistance from the Adoption Authority more than a year after her case was exposed.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

The $180,000 black market baby that may have multiple blonde, fair and blue-eyed siblings - each designed to get the highest price
New details of black market baby-selling ring emerge as lawyer says eggs, sperm came from same two donors
Click here to read this Daily Mail article

19th August 2011

UPDATE:  Sacred Heart/Bessboro Files
It has been confirmed to the Irish Examiner that the files from Sacred Heart Adoption Society in Bessboro, Cork will be transferred to the HSE.  Note, these will include records from vaccine trials.  

All enquiries to:  HSE Adoption Unit, St. Stephen's Hospital Cork. Telephone enquiries to 021 4858650 (note, we recommend dealing with the HSE in writing).

For further information click here to read Conall O'Fatharta's article in today's Irish Examiner

Note:  The files in question cover Sacred Heart Bessboro as well as Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea and the Sacred Heart Mother and Baby Home in Castlepollard.  

18th August 2011

Universal Periodic Review
The United Nations has published it summary of stakeholder reports to the Universal Periodic Review, which includes reference to Adoption Rights Alliance's submission.  Click here to visit the UN website and download the summary.  Click here to view Adoption Rights Alliance's full submission to the UPR.  

Vaccine Trials
If you suspect you were used in a vaccine trial, you can submit an online "adverse effect" report to Glaxo SmithKline here.

Recent articles:

Guatemala mother searched 5 years for adopted girl
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Loyda Rodriguez Morales felt someone tug at her daughter as she tried to enter her simple home with three young children in tow. She turned to see a woman whisk the 2-year-old away in a waiting taxi. 
Click here to read this article by LARRY KAPLOW, Associated Press

China considers clampdown on illegal adoptions
China is considering new rules to crack down on illegal adoptions in a bid to curb child trafficking, a welfare official said Tuesday, amid rising public outrage over child abduction cases.
Click here to read this article from www.sinodaily.com

Adoption measures to be tightened
Orphanages will play pivotal role in move to tackle trafficking of children
BEIJING - The government is toughening rules to tackle the scourge of child trafficking, including making orphanages the only institutions that can offer abandoned children for adoption, an official said.
Click here to read this article by He Dan and Guo Anfei in China Daily

11th August 2011

Adoption Rights Alliance submits legislative proposals to Minister Frances Fitzgerald
Adoption Rights Alliance has submitted a document containing proposals for legislation concerning adoption to Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald.
Click here to view the document.

10th August 2011

Vaccine trial files will not be transferred to HSE  
FILES relating to controversial vaccine trials carried out on children at a Mother and Baby Home run by the Sacred Heart Convent in Bessboro in Cork will not be transferred to the HSE.
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner.  See below for Adoption Rights Alliance reaction.

Adoption Rights Alliance statement:  

10^th August 2011

Adoption Rights Alliance said the HSE's use of the word “immunisation” was a crude attempt to sanitise the non-consensual participation of adopted people in illegal drug trials and has no place in a civilised society where transparency and accountability are the order of the day.  Adopted people who were given vaccines in these trials did not receive the drugs for the purpose of 'immunisation' - these were experiments carried out on defenseless infants.

Questions must be asked as to why the Sacred Heart Adoption Society did not supply the HSE with the files relating to vaccine trials at the Sacred Heart Mother and Baby Homes.  Did Sacred Heart refuse to hand them over or did the HSE refuse to take them?

Adoption Rights Alliance is calling on the government to reinstate the inquiry into the vaccine trials.   Children were used as guinea pigs without their mothers' consent and it is simply unacceptable for the Irish state to ignore this abuse of its vulnerable citizens.  If such vaccine trials had taken place in China, the Irish government would clamber to be the first to issue condemnation.  We look forward to the day when they apply the same moral outrage to actions in which their own parties have been complicit.

9th August 2011

Recent Articles

Adoption data at unaccredited agencies not legally protected
TENS of thousands of adoption files, some exposing illegal adoptions and birth registrations, cannot be inspected by the Adoption Authority as a number of agencies have not applied to be accredited under new legislation.
Click here to read the above article by Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner

Report of the Action Group on a National Records Index
In 2004 the late Brian Lenihan established a number of Advisory Groups to the Adoption Board.  One such group was the Action Group on a National Records Index.  Click here to read the report and its recommendations which have never been acted upon, resulting in the situation as reported above in the Irish Examiner.

4th August 2011

Recent Articles

Church apology over 'forced adoptions' in Australia
THE AUSTRALIAN Catholic Church issued an apology yesterday over what have been called “forced adoptions”.
Click here to read this Irish Times article from Padraig Collins

China's family planning:  Illegal children will be confiscated
The one-child policy is not just a human-rights abomination; it has also worsened a demographic problem.  
Click here to read this article from The Economist

Parliamentary Questions
Click here to see recent parliamentary questions on adoption issues.

22nd July 2011

Not allowed to know
That a country like Ireland maintained a veil of secrecy over the illegal activities of its religious orders has long ceased to be a surprise. However, for it to allow such secrecy to persist more than a decade into the 21st century is shameful.  Yet, by seeming to rule out any chance of historic tracing and information rights to some 50,000 plus adopted people and their several hundred thousand natural parents and relatives, children’s minister Frances Fitzgerald will help continue that legacy.
Click here to read this analysis piece from Conall Ó Fátharta in the Irish Examiner (opens a pdf document)

20th July 2011

Recent articles:

10,000 CHILDREN RIPPED FROM THEIR FAMILIES 
AT LEAST 10,000 young children have been dragged from their families and needlessly adopted due to a flawed target at the heart of Government, it was claimed last night.
Vulnerable children were handed over in their thousands under a New Labour crusade driven by artificial adoption targets.
Click here to read this article by Ted Jeory in the Sunday Express

Nancy meets her mum (92) for first time
A 77-year-old Dublin woman who had been searching for her birth mother for 25 years has finally been reunited with her in Australia.
Click here to read this article by Geraldine Gittens in the Evening Herald

Argentina 'stolen baby' cases legacy of Dirty War
Francisco Madariaga is blunt about how most of his life has been until now.  "I spent 32 years living a lie," he says.  Mr Madariaga, 33, used to be called Alejandro Ramiro Gallo, the name given to him by his adoptive parents.  Last year he came face-to-face for the first time with his real father and confirmed his fears.
Click here to read this article by Vladimir Hernandez for the BBC 

15th July 2011

No timescale for audit results of adoption body
MORE than a year after it began an audit of its tracing and information records to identify any cases involving illegal activity, the Adoption Authority (AAI) has still not offered a timescale as to its completion or if the findings will be made public.
Click here to read the above article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

1st July 2011

Irish Examiner Feature Piece
For people who are adopted, tracing their birth mother can be an arduous task. Rachel Borrill talks to three women about their emotional experiences
Click here to read the article above from the Irish Examiner (Pages 4 & 5)

18th June 2011

Full scale of illegal adoptions remains unknown says Health Minister
The full scale of illegal adoptions and birth registrations in Ireland prior to the 1970s is unknown, the government has admitted.
Click here to read this IrishCentral.com article

Click here to view the PQ's on illegal adoptions

Recent articles:

Profit, not care: The ugly side of overseas adoptions
Lax regulation and an endless demand by childless couples in the West has created an often exploitative market in babies born in the developing world
Click here to read this article by Laurie Penny in the (UK) Independent

Adoption 'donations' encourage crime
The industry insiders said that overseas families wishing to adopt a Chinese child almost always make donations to the welfare home, leading homes to put up more children for adoption and resort to illegal practices to find more children, Xinhua reported.
Click here to read this article from china.org

Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued
Teenage mothers were allegedly forced to give up newborns to human traffickers in southern city of Aba.  Nigerian police have raided an alleged "baby farm" where teenage mothers were forced to give up their newborns for sale to human traffickers.
Click here to read this article by David Smith in The Guardian

Nigeria 'baby farm' girls rescued by Abia state police
Nigerian police have raided a hospital in the south-eastern city of Aba, rescuing 32 pregnant girls allegedly held by a human-trafficking ring.
Click here to read this article from BBC News

17th June 2011

Adoption Rights Alliance response to the Adoption Authority Draft Corporate Plan
Click here to view the Adoption Rights Alliance submission to the Adoption Authority Corporate Plan Consultation Survey.

16th June 2011

Reilly: Scale of illegal adoptions is unknown
THE Government has admitted it has no idea as to the scale of illegal adoptions and birth registrations facilitated by more than 40 mother-and-baby homes which closed in 1972. 
Click here to read this article by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

Adoption Rights Alliance statement on the Adoption Authority Corporate Plan
Adoption Rights Alliance Spokesperson Susan Lohan said:  "We are appalled that in the Adoption Authority of Ireland’s (AAI) national consultation survey, the management and staff of the AAI and their Board Members failed to include the provision of Information and Tracing services (including the already established National Adoption Contact Preference Register) to Ireland's 50,000+ adopted people and their several hundred thousand relatives.

"Adoption is not a point of sale transaction, it is a life changing event with generation-wide consequences. These glaring omissions vindicate all of the deep misgivings that Adoption Rights Alliance and its predecessors have had about the integrity of the Adoption Authority (Adoption Board) over the last 2 decades", Susan Lohan said. She added "that it appeared that the AAI were no longer even pretending to be interested in the needs of adopted adults desperately seeking information on their origins".

Claire McGettrick, co-founder of Adoption Rights Alliance called for the AAI to urgently reboot their entire mindset regarding adoption and said that the organisation would be seeking clarification from Frances Fitzgerald, Minister for Children, AAI Chairman Geoffrey Shannon and CEO Elizabeth Canavan at the earliest opportunity.

Ends.

Click here to view the Adoption Authority Corporate Plan from 2004.

Adoption Authority Corporate Plan
From the Adoption Authority website:  "To assist the Adoption Authority of Ireland in the development of a Corporate Plan for the years 2011-2014 your views on the draft mission and objectives of the organisation are sought through the consultation form at the link below."

Please note:  Incredibly, this survey has completely omitted references to the delivery of tracing and information services.  We encourage you to express your views to the Adoption Authority of Ireland.

Click here to participate in the survey.

Note:  Closing date is tomorrow Friday 17th June 2011

9th June 2011

Adopted adults have a right to know details
I READ the recent article in the Irish Examiner concerning historic rights of adopted adults by Claire O’Sullivan.  I was upset at the flippant remark made by Minister Frances Fitzgerald in her radio interview with Pat Kenny (June 2) when she said that historic tracing will not be made available to adopted adults and that "some people will be disappointed".

Click here to read Grainne Mason's letter in today's Irish Examiner

8th June 2011

Facebook Group
Click here to join our Facebook group!

Helpline
Please note:  Due to circumstances beyond our control, our helpline voicemail inbox became disabled.  If you have been waiting for a response from us, please leave another message.  If you have email access please contact us at info@adoptionrightsalliance.com  

6th June 2011

JFM welcomes UN Committee recommendation for statutory inquiry and redress for Magdalenes, prosecution and punishment of perpetrators
The UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) today issued its “Concluding Observations” following the first examination of the Irish State under the UN Convention Against Torture.   The Committee reiterated its calls for an independent investigation into the Magdalene Laundries abuse and redress for the women who suffered. It also recommended that the State “prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offences committed.”

Click here to visit Justice for Magdalenes' website for further details.

2nd June 2011

From the Law Society's Justice Media Awards:

"The winner of the Justice Media Award in the ‘Daily Newspapers’ category is Conall Ó Fátharta (Irish Examiner) for his article ‘Adoption in Ireland’.

"The Justice Media Award in this category is being presented for an excellent series on the legal quagmire of illegal adoptions. This two-day series looked at one woman’s 30-year search to find her son, whom she subsequently discovered had been illegally adopted after being placed in the care of the St Patrick’s Guild adoption agency in Dublin. It transpired that the boy’s birth had been falsely registered through the nursing home where Tressa Reeve had given birth. This effectively removed all legal evidence that she had ever given birth to her son André, and was done without her knowledge or consent.

"The writer of this article challenged the Adoption Board to reveal the full extent of the number of such adoptions that had been carried out in the State – but failed to receive any satisfactory answers. Part 2 in this series focused on what was then the Adoption Bill 2009 – subsequently the Adoption Act 2010. While primarily focused on ratifying the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and consolidating previous adoption legislation, the author discovered that the new legislation avoided giving adopted people and natural parents any legal rights relating to the tracing of relatives, or the release of information for medical purposes.

"This article contained an excellent review of current adoption laws, revealed the difficulties encountered by natural parents and adopted children through a number of case studies, and fairly criticised the failure of the Government to enact legislation to assist adopted children and their natural parents to trace each other.""

3rd June 2011

Journalist wins top Law Society award for exposing illegal adoption scandals
Congratulations to Conall Ó'Fatharta of the Irish Examiner from Adoption Rights Alliance in winning the top prize at the prestigious Justice Media Awards for his work in exposing illegal adoptions in Ireland.

To date, no action has been taken by the Irish State or the Adoption Authority to resolve the issue of illegal adoptions.  Promises were made by Adoption Authority Chairman Geoffrey Shannon to deal with the issue, yet Registrar Kiernan Gildea said months later that no investigations would be carried out.  No arrests have been made and no assistance given to  reunite the people affected.

Click here to read Conall Ó'Fatharta's articles from April 2010.

Historic adoptees will not have legal right to trace parents 
ADULTS who were put up for adoption when they were babies are not going to be given legal entitlement to trace their natural parents, according to the Minister for Children.  For the past decade adoption groups have been lobbying for legislation giving rights on family information and tracing.

Click here to read the above article by Claire O’Sullivan in today's Irish Examiner

Click here to email Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald 

For those having trouble with pop-ups:  Frances.Fitzgerald@oireachtas.ie 

Examiner journalist scoops top award
IRISH Examiner journalist Conall Ó Fatharta has won one of the highest accolades on offer at the Justice Media Awards for his outstanding exposé on Ireland’s illegal adoption scandal.  Conall was awarded the top prize in the daily newspaper category — a section dominated entirely by three Irish Examiner reporters — after a series of exclusive stories on the hidden crisis.
Click here to read this article by Fiachra Ó Cionnaith in today's Irish Examiner

2nd June 2011

Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald on Today with Pat Kenny 
Today Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald was interviewed on Radio One with Chairperson of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, Geoffrey Shannon.  In just a few sentences she (and Pat Kenny) demonstrated a total lack of regard for the dignity and much sought after information rights of the 50,000 people adopted under the 1952 legislation.  Though we emailed and phoned the Today with Pat Kenny programme, no comments were aired.  

Adoption Rights Alliance is currently completing a Legislative Proposals Submission for the Minister for Children, due to be sent in the coming weeks.  

If you disagree with Minister Fitzgerald, please let your voice be heard and email her at:  omc@health.gov.ie or frances.fitzgerald@oir.ie 

Click here to listen to the mp3 of the interview and a transcription of the relevant section is below:

Frances Fitzgerald:  “...I think you can bring in tracing legislation, I think probably not historic, not going backwards but from current best practice going forward that the child would have access you know, for example, to birth certs, to detailed information.”  

Pat Kenny:  “But there’s no question of changing historical traceability because Ireland is a very small country and a lot of the time in the past we know that adoptions were made for reasons of family shame and all the rest of it…”  

Frances Fitzgerald:  “Exactly.  I think that would be very difficult and there will be people who will be very disappointed hearing that but what I think we need to do in the meantime is build up very good services and we’re doing that, where people who do want to trace have access to high quality counselling and information on both sides – the mother who has given up the child and the person who is looking  for information.  There have been some very very sad situations where if that had been done people would have had access but didn’t and then somebody had died and they never got to meet their birth mother when they wanted to.”

31st May 2011

New photos uploaded
New photos of Sean Ross Abbey and Castlepollard have been uploaded to our History and Heritage page.  

If you have any photos, sample records, stories or other items you would like to donate, please contact us at heritage@adoptionrightsalliance.com 

26th May 2011

‘Illegal’ babies abducted by Chinese population control officials
As Beijing continues to vigorously pursue its infamous one-child policy, PRI has gathered evidence showing that Chinese villagers who cannot afford to pay these fines have their “illegal” children abducted and sold by Chinese population control officials.
Click here to read the above article by Steve Mosher

21st May 2011

Recent Articles:

Big strides made in Vietnam’s adoption service
SENIOR members of the Adoption Authority have met with the Children’s Minister to report on "important improvements" in Vietnam’s inter-country adoption procedures.
Click here to read this article by Claire O’Sullivan in the Irish Examiner

Adoption scandal exposed by muckraking Chinese journalists
GAOPING, HUNAN PROVINCE – Until this year, Yang Libing, whose daughter was taken from him by family planning authorities, would receive visits from one or two Chinese journalists every year.
Click here to read this article by Adrienne Mongon

China probes child trafficking, adoption link
BEIJING, May 10, 2011 (AFP) - China has launched a probe into the abduction of children allegedly born in violation of population control policies then trafficked by officials into adoptions worldwide, an official said Tuesday.
Click here to read this article from MySinchew.com

Chinese babies sold abroad for adoption for £2,000
Chinese babies were sold abroad for adoption for up to £2,000 each after they were forcibly seized by officials enforcing China's one-child policy, an investigation has claimed.
Click here to read this article by Peter Foster in The Telegraph 

China province probes sale of "illegal children"
BEIJING (Reuters) - A southern Chinese province has begun investigating a report that officials had seized at least 16 babies born in violation of strict family planning rules, sent them to welfare centers and then sold them abroad for adoption.
Click here to read the above article from Reuters

5th May 2011

TV3 Adoption Stories
If you missed Adoption Stories on TV3 last night, you can view it at this link.

3rd May 2011

Adoption Rights Alliance is back in gear after the Easter break - stay tuned for upcoming news about our ongoing campaigns.

The Justice for Magdalenes campaign continues...
Visit the Justice for Magdalenes website for the latest news on the campaign for justice for women incarcerated in Magdalene Laundries.

23rd April 2011

Playing politics with adopted children's rights
DAVID QUINN's concern for the welfare of adopted children and those conceived via sperm and egg donation is touching (Irish Independent, April 8, 2011).  However, we must strenuously object to the issue of adopted people's rights being hijacked for the purpose of illustrating Mr Quinn's argument against gay marriage. Children who are in need of homes are not concerned with labels like marriage or civil partnership; rather, these children are looking for security and that security must not come at the price of losing your identity or access to family, culture and heritage.
Click here to read Adoption Rights Alliance's letter in today's Irish Independent

"I felt like I was dead ... and my life was a lie"
Eight years ago Theresa Tinggal discovered she was illegally adopted. Now aged 56, Theresa, like many others, is still fighting for information about the circumstances of her birth. She tells Conall Ó Fátharta about her quest to find her true identity and the obstacles that remain in her way.
Click here to read this special feature on illegal adoptions by Conall Ó Fátharta in today's Irish Examiner

22nd April 2011

Adi Roche optimistic about future of Belarusian adoptions
"Claire McGettrick of the Adoption Rights Alliance told TheJournal.ie that in each prospective adoption case, every effort should be made to locate the child’s parents and ascertain their family situation before going ahead with the adoption."
Click here to read Susan Ryan's article in thejournal.ie

18th April 2011

Rights of children key issue in applying best practice to inter-country adoption
IN ADVANCE of an Irish delegation from the Adoption Authority travelling to meet the relevant authorities in Vietnam about the possibility of proceeding with adoptions from that country to Ireland, it is timely to discuss the need to apply rigorous standards to the inter-country adoption process.
Click here to read this opinion piece from the Ombudsman for Children, Emily Logan in today's Irish Times

13th April 2011

Adoption chiefs to go to Vietnam over fears
OFFICIALS from the Adoption Authority are to travel to Vietnam to examine if the "profound concerns" raised in a number of international reports about adoption practices in the country have been addressed. 
Click here to read Conall Ó Fátharta's article in today's Irish Examiner 

Minister asks Adoption Authority to assess situation in Vietnam
THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Frances Fitzgerald has asked the Adoption Authority chairman to visit Vietnam to assess how the country has improved its foreign adoption system.
Click here to read Susan Ryan's article in thejournal.ie

Adoption board chief to visit Vietnam
The chairman of the Adoption Authority of Ireland is to travel to Vietnam to assess what progress has been made in addressing concerns which led the Government to suspend all adoptions from there in January 2010.
Click here to read this piece from Eithne Donnellan in today's Irish Times

Minister for Children & Youth Affairs Fitzgerald asks Adoption Authority to visit Vietnam
Minister Fitzgerald has today asked the Chairman of the Adoption Authority to visit Vietnam to assess current standards in their ratification of the Hague Convention. 
Click here to read this press release from the Minister for Children.

12th April 2011

Vietnam adoption deal unlikely until concerns resolved
THE Adoption Authority will ensure all of the "very serious issues" that caused the suspension of adoptions from Vietnam are addressed before any administrative agreement is agreed with the south-east Asian country.
Click here to read Conall Ó Fátharta's piece in today's Irish Examiner.

Family's struggle to adopt their ninth troubled child
Over the past two decades Sue and her husband Jim have successfully adopted eight of the most troubled children in the care system, but when they took on seven-year-old Maisie they feared even they did not have the skills to cope with her. Was she too damaged to adopt?
Click here to read the rest of this BBC article which describes an example of how adoption should work. 

10th April 2011

Census 2011
Tonight is Census night - please make sure to fill out your Census Form.  As part of our campaign of alerting the general population about closed, secret adoption, we are suggesting answers for key questions that effect adopted people. 
Click here for more.

7th April 2011

Sensitivity in adoption contact
Madam, – Aoibhin Ní Mhaille (April 4th) shows her respect and concern for her parents and her desire to have them kept informed about any tracing developments. While she is certainly entitled to her feelings in the matter, I would take a different view of the agency’s conduct.
Click here to read Martin Foran's letter in today's Irish Times.

Secrets, lies and an identity denied
An Irish woman who learned she was an illegal adoptee eight years ago believes there are Irish people in Australia also fighting to access files on who their natural parents are.
Click here to read this article from The Irish Post in Australia.

The Orphan Manufacturing Chain
Who wants to buy a baby? Certainly not most people who try to adopt internationally. And yet too often that's how their dollars and euros are being used.
Click here to read this Washington Post opinion piece.

4th April 2011

Minister seeks to reopen Vietnam for Irish adoptions
THE GOVERNMENT will begin talks on securing a new administrative agreement with Vietnam shortly to help reopen the southeast Asian state for Irish couples pursuing intercountry adoptions. 
Click here to read this article from today's Irish Times . 

Sensitivity needed in adoption contact
A chara, – As an adopted adult I recently received a shoddily- written HSE letter from the agency that arranged my adoption informing me that contact had been made by “someone I may have known in the past”.
Click here to read this letter in today's Irish Times

Sunday Times Article
Click here to read an article from yesterday's Sunday Times regarding Alan Stanford's adoption.  (Please note this is a large pdf file and it may take some time to download.)

30th March 2011

Adoption agency re-accredited
A RELIGIOUS-run adoption agency which facilitated a number of illegal adoptions and which exported over 500 "illegitimate" children to the US has been re-accredited by the Adoption Authority.
Click here to read Conall Ó Fátharta's article in today's Irish Examiner

28th March 2011

Adoption is for children, not adults
ALTHOUGH Bulgaria has signed the Hague Convention for the Protection of Children in Intercountry Adoption (Irish Examiner, March 25) and therefore Irish couples are within their rights under Irish law to seek adoptions from there, we fear that in the effort to find "available" children to adopt, that the principles of Hague are often forgotten about.
Click here to read this letter from Adoption Rights Alliance in today's Irish Examiner.

The stolen children
They were sent from Irish orphanages to Australia with the promise of freedom. Instead, writes Declan Cashin, our child migrants battled with abuse and slave labour.
Click here to read this Irish Independent article.

Wikileaks on Romanian Adoptions
Wikileaks has exposed that the US was using the Visa-Waiver programme to try to negotiate international adoptions.
Click here for more.

24th March 2011

Foreigners Looking to Adopt Japanese Earthquake Orphans Need Not Apply
Foreigners looking to adopt a Japanese child orphaned by the recent earthquake may be surprised to know their help, in that respect, is not wanted at the moment. 
Click here to read this Fox News report.

New Illegal Adoptions Website
We have been asked to pass on the details of a new website for people who were illegally adopted.  Click here to view.

NOTICE:  If you have recently left a message on our helpline and have not received a reply please try again as we believe that due to technical difficulties, some messages may have disappeared from our system.  We apologise for any inconvenience.

22nd March 2011

East-Asian orphans illegally adopted and abused
Children in Cambodian and Vietnamese orphanages are being abused and adopted illegally, says a UNICEF representative.
Click here to read this Radio Australia report

21st March 2011

Universal Periodic Review
Adoption Rights Alliance has submitted its main report to the United Nations for the Universal Periodic Review, during which Ireland will be examined by other UN countries on our human rights record.  We have also submitted reports to the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Rights Now campaign.
Click here to view the submissions.

17th March 2011

Adoptees deserve adult treatment
Mary Kenny's article (Irish Independent, March 14) contains a number of good points: a loving and supportive family provides the best start in life for most people and some mothers do feel adoption gives their child a better chance in life.  

However, I believe that Joan Burton's elevation to Cabinet is neither an endorsement nor a criticism of adoption practice. For example, if Ms Burton singlehandedly destroys any semblance of social protection during her time as minister, will there be a similar article condemning adoption or supportive families?

Click here to read the rest of Martin Foran's letter in today's Irish Independent in response to Mary Kenny's recent article.

16th March 2011

Most adopted people here face monumental brick wall
Mary Kenny's opinion piece portrays only one side of Ireland's closed secret adoption system.  We agree with Ms Kenny that Joan Burton is an inspirational person, and are proud to see an adopted person in Cabinet. However, we must vehemently disagree that her case is 'a shining example of good practice' in adoption.

Click here to read the rest of Adoption Rights Alliance's letter in today's Irish Independent in response to Mary Kenny's recent article.

15th March 2011

I was 'given up' as a child–not 'placed'
I WAS ‘given up' for adoption by my birth mother, so forgive me for being absolutely disgusted, angry and insulted by Mary Kenny's article, especially where she says she wants to use the term ‘placed for adoption' rather than ‘given up for adoption' as this implies rejection.

Click here to read the rest of the above letter in today's Irish Independent in response to Mary Kenny's recent article.  See above for Adoption Rights Alliance's letter which appeared in the Irish Independent of 16th March.  

Recent articles:

Burton reveals birth mother sadness
New minister Joan Burton yesterday shrugged off controversy over not being appointed to a finance portfolio and revealed her deep emotion about being sent a photograph of her birth mother on the day she was appointed to Cabinet.
Click here to read the rest of this Sunday Independent article.

Ethica Report on Nepalese Adoptions
Orphaned or stolen? The US State Department investigates adoption from Nepal, 2006-2008
Click here to read more.

Nigerian Medical Council Condemns Baby Factory Clinics
The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) has condemned as unethical, the practice by some medical doctors who use young girls as baby factories to produce babies for sale
Click here to read more.

10th March 2011
Romania detains two Italians for child trafficking
Romanian authorities have detained two Italians for child smuggling and using a false identity after they allegedly tried to illegally take a Romanian newborn to Italy, prosecutors said Thursday.
Click here to read the rest of this Focus Information Agency article.

9th-10th March 2011

Frances Fitzgerald is new Minister for Children
Frances Fitzgerald has been named as the new Minister for Children.  We will be immediately seeking a meeting to discuss the new government's plans for adoption information legislation.  Click here to send her an email.  Our legislative demands can be found here.  Updated sample letters coming soon!

Housekeepers for priests were exploited: study
A STUDY on priests’ housekeepers’ lives presented for International Women’s Day found they were exploited, underpaid and worked from as young as 13. 
Click here to read the rest of this Irish Examiner article.

6th March 2011

Programme for government
A flicker of good news from the programme for government: "We will modernise and reform outdated elements of family law. We will enact legislation to consolidate and reform the law on adoption."

Human Rights Submissions Uploaded
In October of this year, Ireland will be examined by other UN countries on our human rights record, otherwise known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).  This is the first time that this will happen.  In anticipation of this review, Adoption Rights Alliance has made submissions to both the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Irish Council of Civil Liberties' "Rights Now" campaign.  We will also be submitting a report directly to the United Nations.  
Click here to view the submissions.

Humour section added!
We have started a humour section to our website.  Click here to visit and if you would like to submit something, contact us.

Recent Articles

How blue-eyed Irish boy won icon's heart
She was the 'mean, moody and magnificent' queen of Hollywood, but to a little Irish boy, she was just 'mom'. And when 89-year-old screen legend Jane Russell died of respiratory failure at her home in Santa Maria, California last Monday morning, Tom Waterfield, the son whom she adopted from an impoverished Irish couple, was by her side, as ever.
Click here to read the article from today's Sunday Independent.

Ethiopia to Cut Foreign Adoptions by Up to 90 Percent
Ethiopia is cutting back by as much as 90 percent the number of inter-country adoptions it will allow, as part of an effort to clean up a system rife with fraud and corruption. Adoption agencies and children’s advocates are concerned the cutbacks will leave many Ethiopian orphans without the last-resort option of an adoptive home abroad.
Click here to read more.

New details on Grace Farrell, woman who froze to death in NY
Farrell was born out of wedlock to a young unmarried couple in the 1970s Ireland.  Due to the stigma related to having a child out of marriage, Grace’s mother gave her up for adoption.  For the first six years of her life, Grace lived in a happy environment with her new family. However, because the adoption was not finalized Grace was forced to return to the foster care system.
Click here to read the rest of the Irish Central article.

4th March 2011

TD Contact Details Updated
Our campaigns page has been updated with the contact details of the 166 new TD's who have been elected.  Click here

Attention - calling all of Ireland's "Banished Babies"!

The Irish Times reported on Friday 25th February that the Adoption Authority sent a delegation to the US in the previous week to discuss intercountry adoption. (Article available here) 

Click here to read why Irish people should not be adopting from the US and what you can do to complain.

1st March 2011

Argentina's ex-military leaders tried over baby thefts
Two former military leaders have gone on trial in Argentina, accused of overseeing the systematic theft of babies from political prisoners. 
Click here to read the BBC News report.

Hollywood star Jane Russell dies at 89
Over 2,000 Irish children (that we know of) were secretly sent from Ireland to the US for adoption.  Perhaps the most famous adoptive mother involved in these adoptions was Jane Russell.  Click here to read the BBC News report of her death.

Birth fathers can get in touch

"There is now more support and help available for fathers looking to trace a child given up for adoption."  Click here to read Sheila Wayman's article in today's Irish Times.

PLEASE NOTE:  While Adoption Rights Alliance encourages people to register with the National Adoption Contact Preference Register (NACPR), it would be remiss of us to allow people tracing to get the wrong impression from the article above.  The NACPR has never been operated in the manner first envisaged in that it has not been widely publicised (apart from the initial coverage), we have not seen it advertised internationally and the promise of an additional mailout of leaflets in 2007 never happened.  

Adoption Rights Alliance also takes issue with the manner in which people matched on the NACPR are automatically sent to their adoption agency (now known as "accredited bodies") for the reunion to be processed.  We encourage people to not be afraid to object to their adoption agency's involvement if this is something they are not comfortable with.  

The NACPR is a useful tool in the search process, but it does not mean that the Adoption Authority is tracing for your family member.  Should you wish to trace, please visit our Search and Reunion page here.

26th February 2011

Here's hoping today's result will be a favourable one for adopted people's rights...

25th February 2011

Election Day
Have you voted yet?  If not you still have time!  Don't worry if you don't have your polling card, you just need photo ID.  

24th February 2011

Charges initiated against Pope for crimes against humanity
Two German lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity.
Click here to read Patsy McGarry's Irish Times article.

Our colleague Mari Steed has uploaded a set of photos from Bessboro to her Flickr feed. Click here to view.  See further photos and information about agencies and Mother & Baby Homes at our History & Heritage page.

23rd February 2011

Beyond the economy:  Church abuse should be a serious election concern
Click here to read the joint letter written to the main Irish newspapers by James M. Smith, Associate Professor, English Department, Boston College, Mari Steed, Director, Justice for Magdalenes, Claire McGettrick, Adoption Rights Alliance, Paddy Doyle, Author: “The God Squad,” Moderator, www.paddydoyle.com, Maeve O’Rourke, Harvard University Law School Global Human Rights Fellow.

Click here for the letter as it appeared in today's Irish Times.

22nd February 2011

Bid to mute Irish anger
"The funny thing is that Paddy Doyle was invited to the very thing he was barred from."  
Click here to read Kevin Cullen's article in The Boston Globe.

Recent Articles

Making a drama out of a crisis
Responding to news of the seizure of more than 1,000 abortion pills by the IMB, Dr Juliet Bressan examines the issue from the perspective of those facing into a crisis pregnancy. 
Click here to read more.

WikiLeaks brings to light suspected baby trafficking from Egypt to Canada
The RCMP and Canadian consular officials in Cairo have been investigating up to a dozen cases where couples are suspected of having trafficked babies from Egypt into Canada, according to leaked diplomatic cables. 
Click here to read this Globe and Mail article of February 18th.

Spanish mother reunited with daughter she was told had died at birth
Case is latest in growing scandal over babies allegedly stolen by doctors and sold for adoption over several decades.
Click here to read Giles Tremlett's article in The Guardian of February 20th

Practice Babies: 1 Orphan Raised by 8 Mothers
Adoption's Dark History: What Happens When a Baby Is Coddled by Many but Bonds With None
Denny Domecon had eight "mothers." And every six weeks, eight more would take their place; planning his nutritious diet, his naps and tending to his every need
Click here to read the rest of this report from ABC News.

FRANCO ‘STOLE BABIES’ CLAIM
HUNDREDS of parents in Spain who believe their babies were stolen and sold to wealthy couples in a scandal dating back to the Franco regime have demanded an official investigation.
Click here to read Jon Coates' article in The Express of January 30th 2011.

Bulgarian, Greek police break up baby trafficking ring
BULGARIAN and Greek police have arrested 14 people who allegedly trafficked newborn babies to Greece, Bulgarian Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said yesterday. 
Click here to read this Herald Sun article of January 26th.

16th February 2011

New Election 2011 Page!
Click here to visit our new Election 2011 page where you can download email addresses for the candidates in your constituency.

7th February 2011

Click here to download our Election 2011 Flyer to have ready for canvassers who come to your door.  Let's make sure adopted people's rights are kept high on the agenda!

31st January 2011

Can You Help?
Do you have unwanted Thom's Directories (any year)?  Do you have old phonebooks you are no longer using?  If so we would be happy to take them off your hands.  If you have these or any materials that you feel might be of help to us in assisting adopted people to research their natural families contact us.  Thank you!

24th January 2011

Would You Believe - Mari Steed's Episode now available online
Click here to view Mari Steed's episode of RTÉ's Would You Believe.

24th January 2011

Would You Believe - Mari Steed's Episode
Don't forget to watch RTÉ one tonight at 10.35pm.  Our friend and colleague Mari Steed's story is the subject of tonight's episode of Would You Believe.  Click here to read more.

Controversy over vaccine trial files
Click here for the Irish Examiner report from Claire O'Sullivan and Conall O'Fatharta

Adoption board members attend only fraction of meetings in 5-year period
Click here for Conall O'Fatharta's piece in today's Irish Examiner

22nd January 2011

Are you registered to vote?  If not please register now and make sure your voice is heard.  Click this link to check the register.

State body digs heels in over drug-trial documents
Click here to read Patricia McDonagh's Irish Independent article

Delivering her verdict on childbirth
Click here for an interesting article from Dr Juliet Bressan in the Irish Medical Times on childbirth in Ireland, in which she makes reference to our damning history in the treatment of women in crisis pregnancies. 

Recent Articles regarding the Children's Rights Referendum:

Irish Times: Children's rights vote a step closer

Irish Examiner:  Children’s referendum on election day a step closer 

Irish Independent:  Referendum leaves child intervention powers unchanged

See below for information regarding a recent EU debate on intercountry adoptions:

Irish Times:  MEPs debate Romanian adoptions

Irish Examiner:  MEPs look for relaxation of EU adoption rules

Government to launch Irish ancestry certificates in January
The Irish government is to begin issuing ancestry certificates.  While this is wonderful news for Irish diaspora, it is a slap in the face for adopted people who have no right to their birth certificates and files.  This measure also ignores the 2,000+ children who were secretly exported from Ireland to the US for adoption from the 1940's to the 1970's.  It has been 15 years since this scandal was exposed, yet nothing has been done to assist the now adult adopted people who were exported to the US as children.  Click here to read the Irish Central article.

Can Korea shed image of orphan exporter?
Click here to read the recent Korea Times article regarding Korean adoptions.

11th January 2011

Accreditation of adoption bodies to be completed
Click here to read Conall O'Fatharta's article in the Irish Examiner.

Ethiopia Working with Child Advocacy Groups to Clean Up Adoptions
Click here to read the above article about adoption corruption in Ethiopia

Children’s minister denies adoption limbo
Click here to read Susan Mitchell's article in the Sunday Business Post (December 19th)

The 30,000 lost children of the Franco years are set to be saved from oblivion
Click here to read more.

Vaccine trial victims in court bid to lift veil on experiments
Click here to read Patricia McDonagh's Irish Independent article(January 4th)

The Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network
The Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network advocates for the rights of unwed pregnant women, unwed mothers and their children in Korea. The Network’s goal is to enable Korean women to have sufficient resources and support to keep their babies if they choose, and thrive in Korean society, rather than feel compelled to give up their children for adoption or risk a life of poverty.
Click here to visit their website

6th January 2011

Wording to secure children's rights is agreed
Click here to read Harry McGee's article in the Irish Times

31st December 2010

Two resign from adoption authority
Click here to read more.

15th December 2010

Documents prove children given jabs without consent
Click here to read Patricia McDonagh's articles in Monday's Irish Independent revealing further evidence of vaccine trials in mother and baby homes.

Children's rights are being ignored
Click here to read Grainne Mason's letter in response to the above articles.

9th December 2010

Today is International Anti-corruption Day.  Adoption Rights Alliance calls for an end to corruption in adoption - children should not come with price tags!

6th December 2010

Adoption - promises not kept
Click here to read the letter in today's Irish Times from Adoption Loss:  The Natural Parents Network of Ireland

Click here for details of upcoming support group meetings in the Co. Clare area.

It's like your head is in a vice grip
Click here for the Irish Times article about an adopted person and natural mother who suffer from migrane and the impact of lack of medical history for adopted people.