Children's Right Alliance seeks urgent ratification

Children's Righs Alliance seeks urgent ratification of the Hague Adoption Treaty

CAROL COULTER Legal Affairs Editor - 28.09.2009

THE CHILDREN’S Rights Alliance has called for the urgent ratification by Ireland of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions in the light of the lapsing of a bilateral adoption agreement between Ireland and Vietnam.

It said a recent Vietnamese government’s report on adoption “makes for worrying reading” and expressed concern that the adoption system can fall foul to criminal activity. The alliance is a coalition of over 90 non-governmental organisations campaigning on children’s rights in Ireland.

“The Children’s Rights Alliance acknowledges the personal stress and upset that any change in inter-country adoption procedures has on prospective adoptive parents,” its chief executive Jillian van Turnhout said in a statement.

“Adoption is a pathway to realising a child’s right to grow up in a family. When discussing adoption, we rightly focus on the story of prospective adoptive parents, but often we lose sight of the fact that adoption is about children, their rights and needs,” she said.

“Unfortunately, the adoption system can fall foul to criminal activity, including corruption and the sale or trafficking of children. It is thus critical that a rigorous verification process be put in place for all adoptions. At present, the Irish adoption system has different levels of safeguards for national and international adoptions. > read more <