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Children can now be adopted by their foster carers after 18 months

The Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 has passed its final stages in Dáil Éireann.

A BILL HAS passed to allow children to be adopted by their foster carers, where they have cared for the child for at least 18 months.

The Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 brings legislative changes to the 2012 children’s rights referendum.

The legislation will now ensure that where the child’s parents have failed in their parental duty to the child for 36 months, the High Court can proceed without parental consent and allow the Adoption Authority to make an adoption order for the child.

The amendments have been welcomed by the Irish Foster Care Association.

“This amendment will offer many children stability in their lives,” the association’s CEO Catherine Bond said.

The Bill by Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Katherine Zappone also ensures that the best interests of the child are to be “the paramount consideration” in the adoption process.

The views of the child shall be ascertained by the Adoption Authority or by the court, as the case may be, and shall be given due weight, having regard to the age and maturity of the child.

Parental support 

Although the Bill provides further access for foster carers to seek adoption, the Bill outlines support for parents whose children have not yet been adopted by their carers.

An amendment tabled by Senator Lynn Ruane will now see an obligation on Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, to offer supports to birth parents who have had their child taken into foster care with the hope of increasing the chances of a “positive” family reunification.

Ruane said:

Throughout my time working in the areas of homelessness and addiction, I have supported many parents who have struggled to overcome personal challenges when their child is taken into foster care.

“They often never get the chance to address those challenges because the supports they need are never offered. As a result of my amendment, this will no longer be the case.”

Married parents will now be allowed to place their child up for adoption, on a voluntary basis, in circumstances where both parents consent to the decision.

Step parents will be permitted to adopt their step child without the requirement for the child’s other parent to adopt their own child.

The Bill allows for the adoption of a child by civil partners and cohabiting couples.

It also contains an amendment brought in by Senator Alice-Mary Higgins, which is a vital step in bringing Ireland’s adoption laws in line the rights of a child as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Children’s Rights referendum of 2012.

“An open or semi-open option could ensure that we are getting this right and giving everyone the post-adoption supports they need,” Higgins said.

Zappone said:

“I welcome the passage of the important child-centred Bill through the House of Oireachtas. I am conscious of the importance of providing for an adoption process that is fully inclusive of everyone involved, and where children’s best interests are always at the heart of decisions involving them.”

Read: Explainer: What is Dáil privilege and how can it be breached?

More: ‘There has been a sense of fear’ – Dublin women get together after recent spate of attacks

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21 Comments
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    Mute David Higgins
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    Oct 9th 2011, 9:32 AM

    Disobey the rules, don’t except our sympathy when the consequences arrive!

    67
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    Mute Mack O'Connell
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    Oct 9th 2011, 9:47 AM

    The Nazis were just following the "rules" also.

    74
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    Mute James Quirke
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    Oct 9th 2011, 9:55 AM

    ever heard of a thing called civil disobedience at all?

    49
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    Mute Ronald
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    Oct 9th 2011, 12:40 PM

    You say ‘civil disobedience’ as if it was the equivalent to peaceful protesting!

    Jeeez, some people seem to think that their self-righteousness justifies breaking the law!

    27
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    Mute Conor Murphy
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    Oct 9th 2011, 1:04 PM

    If I was working as a security guard for A MUSEUM and some self righteous twit held down my co-worker I’d get them off pretty sharply too.

    Now not saying that’s definitely what happened but they have no right to physically restrain a working member of the public.

    25
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    Mute Cormac Flanagan
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    Oct 9th 2011, 10:10 AM

    They called medics caused they were peppered sprayed. Should be done for wasting their time.

    29
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    Mute Noel Peare
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    Oct 9th 2011, 11:31 AM

    Have you ever seen the results of pepper spray? I worked in a nightclub where a girl was pepper sprayed. She was in agony afterwards. I found it hard to stay near her as the residue on her face was enough to cause my eyes and face to have the same symptoms. She was taken away by ambulance & I assure you it was necessary.

    24
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    Mute Cormac Flanagan
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    Oct 9th 2011, 12:53 PM

    While never been pepper sprayed myself I have seen the effects of those who have numerous times(actually more than numerous) and ALL just had to wash out there eyes with water.

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    Mute joseph mcgee
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    Oct 10th 2011, 12:58 AM

    more than numerous? how many is more than numerous? is it, loike, a lot?
    do tell flanagan, how and where did u see the effects of those who’ve been pepper sprayed
    numerous times. sorry i mean more than numerous times
    CSI or some other show?

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    Mute steve white
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    Oct 9th 2011, 9:54 AM

    Conservative Spectator Magazine Brags of its Agent Provacateur’s Role in Provoking Attack on DC Museum http://t.co/Gsm8wqTK

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    Mute Niall Carson
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    Oct 9th 2011, 10:56 AM

    Sounds pretty damming

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    Mute Ronald
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    Oct 9th 2011, 12:43 PM

    They rushed and held down a security guard… A normal Average Joe doing his job… Not an SS Officer!

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    Mute willy pearse
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    Oct 9th 2011, 11:43 AM

    Heil Obama!

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    Mute Oscar Brophy
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    Oct 9th 2011, 12:11 PM

    bloddy yanks

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    Mute Pete Gibson
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    Oct 9th 2011, 12:09 PM

    Amazing how they don’t object to war aircraft which carry a living pilot!
    They seem to have a superstitious fear of automation.

    Drones are just the start of the automation.
    Google Earth can tell me the difference in latitude and longitude between the front and the back of my car parked in my driveway.
    Within 20 years piloted warplanes will look as antiquated as the Wright Brothers plane in Kitty Hawk in 1903.

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    Mute Saffron Marriott
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    Oct 9th 2011, 11:26 AM

    I got chili in my eyes making a curry recently and it was truly awful – poor people

    7
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