Recession hits number of foreign adoption bids
The numbers of Irish people applying for permission to adopt a child from abroad have fallen, according to the Health Service Executive.
A spokeswoman said improved fertility treatments meant women had a greater chance of getting pregnant and giving birth.
The other serious factor, of course, is the number of people who are unemployed or on reduced incomes who simply cannot afford the expense of air fares to foreign countries or the financial strain of being responsible for another child.
The HSE has also claimed delays faced by Irish people waiting to get clearance to adopt from abroad have reduced.
All prospective adoptive parents have to undergo assessment first by the HSE to determine how suitable they are -- a process that used to be a huge source of grievance because it dragged out for several years.
Inter-country adoption made international headlines recently after it was revealed 11 Irish couples ended up being investigated by police in Mexico after it emerged babies they intended to adopt were part of a child-trafficking ring.
The couples have since returned home but the Adoption Authority here had issued several warnings that these kind of private adoptions were against the law.
The Irish Independent reported last year that there were 200 inter-country adoptions between January and November 2011, compared to a high of 397 in 2008.
The HSE said recently that in general there were now "no waiting times" for second assessment across the country.
"In the Dublin service, applicants get the pack at their request and have no timeframe to submit it. They can return it when they are ready to proceed.
"Once the pack is received and processed (garda clearances, medical checks and child protection clearances) it takes no longer than 18 months to compete the entire process.
"The breakdown involves three months for a group preparation course with other prospective adoptive parents, followed by the allocation of a social worker six to eight weeks later, three months for the social work assessment, four weeks to write up the assessment report and two to three weeks for the local adoption committee to consider the report and the social work presentation."
After this, the application goes to the Adoption Authority and three to four months later they are issued with a final determination of their application. Within the Dublin service, many applicants complete the process within 12 months.
The HSE was given permission to outsource some of this assessment work to outside agencies in order to free up its own staff and speed up the process but it has not yet availed of the services.
Meanwhile, talks are under way to expand the number of countries available to Irish people to adopt children from.
Children's Minister Frances Fitzgerald said a limited number of adoptions were currently being processed under transitional arrangements and they could take place up to the end of October 2013.
These are people who were deemed suitable to adopt, before the cut-off point in November 2010, and can still adopt from Russia although it is not part of the Hague Convention countries.
"Russia has not ratified the Hague Convention and there appears to be no immediate prospect that this will happen."
She said an official delegation from Ireland recently visited Russia and held preliminary discussions regarding the potential for a bilateral agreement.
"I am awaiting an assessment from the Adoption Authority which will inform the next steps to be taken in relation to this matter," said the minister.
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