Government reverses policy on agency helping couples adopt Chinese children

IN a major reversal of policy on adoption, the Government has formally recognised International Orphan Aid, the organisation which facilitates the adoption of Chinese children by Irish couples.

The decision by the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr Austin Currie, will be welcomed by 200 Irish couples whose efforts to adopt Chinese babies have been hindered up to now by bureaucratic delays.

Six couples who have already lodged adoption papers with the Chinese authorities are now likely to complete their adoptions "any day now", according to IOA director, Ms Sally Keaveney.

IOA has been seeking the right to transmit adoption papers to the Chinese for almost a year, but until now Mr Currie has insisted that only the Adoption Board, could exercise this authority. Yesterday, however, he said IOA was doing "a good job" and would be given the same rights as the board to transmit papers.

Mr Currie said he hoped the decision, which was announced yesterday in the presence of the Chinese ambassador, Ms FanHuijuan, would expedite the adoption of Chinese children by Irish parents.

Government recognition was needed because the Chinese authorities expected to deal with agencies which were officially accredited, Ms Keaveney explained. Potential adopting families will still need the approval of the Adoption Board but documents could then be processed either through the board or IOA.

The Adoption Board lost a Supreme Court appeal last summer against its refusal to recognise adoptions under Chinese law.

Ms Keaveney said that when she travelled to China last November she found the board had not sent an official to Beijing to expedite the cases, nor had it been in contact with Chinese officials.

Up to now, just one Chinese child has been adopted by Irish parents. Peng Xiju now called Emma Louise - was adopted by Cyril and Susan Mulligan of Dublin last September. Another child has been brought back to Ireland for a heart operation.

Ms Keaveney was a housewife who worked in the home until she saw the Channel 4 television documentary, Return to the Dying Rooms, on appalling conditions in Chinese orphanages. With a colleague she set up IOA in January 1996. Since then the agency has sent a number of aid consignments to Chinese orphanages, as well as helping with the Chinese adoptions.