Adoption ruling highlights 'difficulties'

The High Court judgment which held that a two-year-old child placed for adoption should remain with the couple who want to adopt her and not be returned to her natural parents underlines the "dysfunctional nature" of the adoption process, groups supporting both natural and adoptive parents have said.

Groups working with children have welcomed the judgment, saying it put the interests of children first.

Though the judgment was delivered in camera by Mr Justice John MacMenamin in June, it was published last Friday following an application by the Adoption Board.

Bernie Harold, chairwoman of Adoption Loss Ireland, a support group for people who have given up their children, welcomed the publication, saying it publicised a "difficult issue".

She said aspects of the judgment were ambiguous and it did not make clear whether the child's birth parents had any contact with their daughter. Nor does it say whether initial or final consent forms had been signed. "What is stated, however, is the fact that the natural parents had already begun wardship proceedings and that baby Ann had been made a ward of court."

She said there was no legal basis for "open" adoptions - ie, where the natural parent can have access to the child. "Natural parents are rarely told there's no legal right to this, so once they've signed the forms consenting to adoption access is often thwarted by the adoptive parents."

She welcomed the judgment's reference to a lack of independent counselling for natural parents. "Our helpline and support meetings reveal many women felt very pressured by social workers to agree to their child's adoption, when what they really needed was practical support to enable them to provide a proper home for their baby at the time."

The Adoptive Parents' Association of Ireland (APAI) said it was "outraged" at the turn of events, believing just one form should be signed by birth parents, which would be "absolutely irrevocable" after six months. Currently there are a number of forms signed at different stages.

Helen Scott, APAI spokeswoman, said: "If the birth parents request the return of the child during that six months, then the prospective adoptive parents should be legally obliged to comply with that request."

Paul Gilligan, chief executive of the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said: "If the judgment was made in the best interests of the child and the mechanisms by which those interests were assessed were robust, then we have to welcome it."