Lack of birth parents on adoption register
AN adoption campaigner has voiced fears that many adoptees who have signed up to a new register will be left disappointed due to the low number of birth parents who have submitted their details.
Figures released yesterday show that 16,634 adopted persons, birth parents, and other relatives have now registered with the Adoption Authority of Ireland to state their preferences about making contact with birth relatives.
The new Contact Preference Register (CPR) was established on July 1 as part of the enactment of the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022, replacing the old National Adoption Contact Preference Register (NACPR).
Those wishing to make contact, to request privacy, or to seek or share information with a birth relative, can register their preferences through the CPR. As well as the 14,460 people who had already registered with the NACPR, a further 2,174 people have joined the new CPR since July 1.
From October 3, people will be able to apply for and receive relevant information. But of the submissions to the CPR, the total includes more than 1,900 from adopted persons, compared to 236 from birth parents and other relatives.
Susan Lohan, cofounder of the Adoption Rights Alliance, has said this difference in numbers means that many of those who were adopted as children will be left disappointed by the process. ‘The effort of [Children’s Minister Roderic O’Gorman’s] department is only as good as his outcome. And as long as there is an imbalance in the applications for something like the CPR, as long as there is no reaching out through the parents who lost children through adoption, it’s lip service,’ she told the Irish Daily Mail. Ms Lohan added that many birth parents still face difficulty trusting adoption authorities due to their past experiences. She said more needs to be done to encourage them to sign up, and that a more emotive public campaign would help. ‘Many of the natural parents are either deceased or very elderly, and would be mistrustful, quite frankly, of such a register,’ said Ms Lohan, who traced her own birth mother in the 1980s but spent 18 years trying to track down her birth father. She added: ‘If it’s 1,900 versus 200, a lot of people are going to get nothing from this.
‘Whilst the numbers would likely never be equal, because so many of the natural parents have since passed away without having any positive outcome to their plight, the numbers could have been far greater.’
The CPR applications include 1,743 from Ireland, as well as 119 from the UK and 49 from the US.
Adoption Authority CEO Patricia Carey said the register is a long-awaited development for those affected.
‘People in Ireland who were adopted, boarded out or had their birth information illegally registered have waited a very long time to gain access to their own information,’ she said.
‘Finally, from October 3, they will be able to apply for and receive unredacted information about their birth and earlier years.’
In cases where a mother chooses to have no contact, this will not prevent her identity from being shared, but her right and wish not to be contacted will be communicated. It will also not stop adopted persons meeting or engaging with other family members, such as siblings or half-siblings.
Ms Carey described the response to the public information campaign around this landmark legislation as ‘incredible’.
‘To have more than 2,000 people register their preferences on the new Contact Preference Register in just 11 weeks shows how important and much anticipated these new services are for those affected by adoption,’ she said.
Ms Carey added that ‘the focus is now switching to delivering information and tracing services, but the CPR will remain open’.
Applications allowing people to register or update their preferences can be made at birthinfo.ie.
‘Important and much anticipated’