The Irish Government is to allow adopted people to access their birth certificates for the first time under legislation currently being drafted. According to a report in The Irish Times, the passage of the proposed Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill could affect as many as 50,000 people who have till now been denied access to the documentation recording their birth parents’ details due to legal wrangles.
The Bill seeks to create an ‘adoption information register’ to be maintained by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Prompted by the requirement to balance the desires of adopted people against potential issues of privacy around those who have placed children for adoption, the register would allow adopted people to gain information on their births, while parents could record their preferences on any future contact. Adopted people would be required to sign a statutory declaration to respect such wishes before accessing their birth certificate.
Among those to benefit from the new legislation are a reported 2,000 people in the United States who were the subject of secret adoptions from Church-run Mother and Baby homes in Ireland.
If the Bill is enacted as expected this week, a 12-month awareness campaign is proposed once the legislation comes into force, at which time the Adoption Authority of Ireland will take responsibility for compiling and storing information relevant to the new register.
