ADOPTED people will finally get automatic access to their birth records under new laws that the Government hopes will end a “historic wrong”.
International laws say all children should be able to establish their identity. But thousands of adopted people here have no automatic right to their birth records or access to tracing services.
The Birth Information and Tracing Bill was published a year to the day since an inquiry found that thousands of infants died in Mother and Baby Homes. Many tots were also taken away from their mothers and sent overseas to be adopted.
Successive governments have failed to legislate on the issue, saying the right to privacy of the mother outweighed the rights of adopted people.
Writing today, Children’s Minister RODERIC O’GORMAN, explains how the new law will work, if it is enacted as expected.
A RIGHT TO KNOW
EVERY Irish citizen has a constitutional right to know their identity — their origins, their own personal story, and where they came from.
However, for people who were adopted, that right and the right to information about themselves has, for decades, often been restricted and denied in favour of a parent’s constitutional right to privacy.
Birth certs, baptismal certs, and early childhood information — information that is central to a person’s identity — has been withheld from adopted people, leaving them with unanswered questions in relation to where they came from, who their relatives are, and key information about the early years of their life.
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The Birth Information and Tracing Bill, published this week, seeks to give back those rights to adopted people, while still respecting the privacy wishes of parents, in a way that ensures adopted people can gain full and complete access to their birth and early life information in all circumstances.
No redactions. No refusals. No exceptions.
Importantly, the right also applies to people whose births may have been illegally registered, those who were in Mother and Baby Institutions, and others who may have questions about their identity and origins.
Crucially, it also provides access to extra information about a person’s early stages of their life, which may help them to gain a better understanding of who they are and where they came from.
HANDS ON LETTERS
This includes where they may have lived; the length of time they may have spent with their mother; whether they have older or younger brothers or sisters; who cared for them, where and for how long; and their medical history and that of genetic relatives.
It also goes beyond that and covers items such as letters, photographs and other mementos that a parent may have left for their child, in an institution or agency, but were never passed on.
And in situations where an adopted person has died, their children will be able to avail of the legislation. They may also have questions about their relative’s origin and by extension their own origins.
This Bill will also help adopted people or parents whose children may have been adopted.
They can share information and make contact with family members, where that is the wish of all parties involved.
NEW NATIONAL TRACING SERVICE
This will be done through the new national tracing service and contact preference register that will be established under this law.
If and when this law is passed, we will launch a campaign to let adopted people, parents and family relatives know they can register whether or not they have would like to be contacted by their relative.
Once three months have passed, adopted people, or relevant persons, will be able to use the information and tracing service.
In situations where there is nothing recorded in the contact preference register, or if the parent has indicated that they would like contact, the adopted person will receive their full set of information by post.
Nothing will be held back.
Where a parent has registered that they do not wish to be contacted, the adopted person will receive a phone call, where the privacy wishes of the parent will be relayed to the adopted person.
Following this phone call, the full and complete set of information will still be given to the adopted person. Again, nothing will be held back.
LONG OVERDUE LAW
We want to be able to provide as much information as possible to people without further delay.
By the inclusion of a phone call in this process, we are rebalancing two sets of competing constitutional rights in a way that does not limit the information that can be provided to someone availing of the legislation, while still acknowledging the privacy rights of mothers.
This legislation is long overdue.
I have prioritised its progression through the Houses of the Oireachtas, and it will enter the Dail next week.
I want to ensure that it is passed as quickly as possible, so that adopted people can finally gain access to their history, their personal stories, and their identity. Things that all the rest of us take for granted.