'Unless migrant women are given appropriate counselling, their consent to adopt could be revoked'

A NEW report has expressed concern at the growing number of foreign women living in Ireland who are forced by circumstances to hand over their babies for adoption.

The report by the Labour Reform Commission suggests that an increasing number of migrant women here are giving up their children because of economic necessity and lack of full legal status.

And it warns that parents who adopt children under these circumstances could face a legal challenge in the future from the birth parents, which could see the adoption revoked.

The Government's legal watchdog has warned that unless migrant women living in Ireland who place their children for adoption are given language and culturally appropriate counselling services, their consent to adopt could be revoked on foot of a successful legal challenge.

The report by the LRC, which is published today, was completed after former Attorney General Rory Brady asked the watchdog to investigate intercountry adoptions in the aftermath of the Tristan Dowse case.

The toddler's parents, whose adoptive father was Irish, returned the child to an Indonesian orphanage after the "bonding" process broke down.

That triggered a High Court action in Dublin taken against the parents by the Attorney General, despite the fact that the couple lived abroad.

Under Irish law, adoption can only take place if a mother gives her full, free and informed consent.

"The consent to place a child for adoption solely on the basis of immigration difficulties is not a full, free and informed one," said Ray Byrne, director of research at the LRC.

"Such an adoption may be challenged in the future, if the mother places her child for adoption on grounds of economic necessity or other personal difficulty. We need to ensure that the health services and the Adoption Board provide full support to these mothers to ensure that their consent is free and fully informed.

"Such adoptions are treated as domestic adoptions, but they share many of the problematic features associated with foreign and intercountry adoptions."

The plight of migrant mothers, many who come from eastern European bloc and Asian countries, has been highlighted in the LRC report which explores the legal difficulties posed by intercountry adoptions.

Framework

Ireland has one of the highest rates of intercountry adoption in the world, with just one out of every 10 children adopted here every year born in Ireland. Almost 500 foreign children are adopted each year here, compared to 300 in Britain, which has a population of 60 million.

There has been an influx of 4,500 children from over 40 countries over the last 17 years -- since the Government put in place a legal framework, in the Adoption Act of 1991, to facilitate foreign adoptions.

The LRC has recommended that children who live outside of the State, but who are the subject of a foreign or intercountry adoption by an Irish citizen, would retain their full citizenship rights.

It says that, in future, where the rights of an adopted child with Irish citizenship living abroad are at risk, the Attorney General should step in to safeguard those rights.

It has also recommended the appointment of a dedicated High Court judge to deal solely with adoption cases, and has welcomed the Government's decision to bring forward a new Adoption Bill, due to be published in this Dail term, to give force to the Hague Convention covering adoption, which Ireland signed in 1993.

- Dearbhail McDonald Legal Editor