Legal advice sought over Adoption Bill contact provisions

Children’s Minister Dr Katherine Zappone is seeking legal advice over a proposed law to prevent adopted children from contacting their birth parents if given their birth certificate.

The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 provides that adopted children must agree only to use information in their birth certificate to contact a birth parent if that parent has indicated a willingness to contact them.

According to The Irish Times, Dr Zappone has acknowledged the “deep concern” that many adopted people have over the bill.

Susan Lohan, director of the Adoption Rights Alliance (ARA), has said adopted people are entitled to “unconditional and unfettered access” to their own documents, including birth certificates.

She also called for clarity on the penalties that an adopted person would face if they broke the agreement and contacted a parent.

Speaking at the Exploring Information and Tracing conference, Ms Lohan said: “You can’t ask people to sign an undertaking without knowing the consequences.”

Dr Geoffrey Shannon, special rapporteur for child protection, told the conference that the Government should examine how other jurisdictions have balanced the rights of a child and the right to privacy.

He said: “It needs to be managed. A large part of this can be managed by public services. Secrecy and shame work hand in hand. We need the best possible system that enshrines the right to identity.”