There was a “surge” in applications for birth information and to trace birth relatives to the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) last year – the first full year of operation of the Birth Information and Tracing Act (BITA), new figures show.
In its 2023 annual report, published on Monday, the authority said it processed 3,504 applications for birth information last year, including a backlog of 1,863 from 2022 which was now cleared.
The authority received 410 applications for birth tracing in 2023, of which 79 per cent were allocated to a social worker by the end of the year.
Under the BITA, which began in October 2022, anyone who was adopted, boarded out, nursed out or the subject of an illegal birth registration, or resided in a mother and baby home or county home institution as a child, can apply for access to their birth certificates and birth and early-life information. The AAI is one of two State bodies providing these services, the other being Tusla.
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Each body has been tasked with processing applications concerning named institutions.
In January Tusla said there was a risk its birth information and tracing service could “collapse” if extra funding was not provided to cope with far higher than anticipated applications. It had sought an additional €5.5 million in funding from the Department of Children in the budget last year. No extra funding was provided.
Tusla said in January it had received more than 7,200 requests for access to birth information and 5,750 requests to its tracing service. While it had processed 89 per cent of applications requesting birth information, nearly 3,000 applications to its tracing service were waiting to be allocated a social worker to progress.
Tusla was asked on Monday evening for its most up-to-date figures and whether a significant backlog remained.
In its report the AAI said “2023 marked a move to increased permanency and stability, with key strategic hiring in place, and a future-proofing of the organisation through investment in technology and training”. It is understood significant investment in additional research staff to process applications for birth information and tracing has enabled the AAI to clear its backlog.
As of August 6th last, the AAI had received 4,821 valid applications for birth records, with a total of 4,803 applications now completed.
Of the more than 3,000 applications for birth information processed last year, 82 per cent were from people in Ireland, 10 per cent from the United Kingdom with the remaining from the rest of the world, including the United States, Australia and Canada.
Of those from Ireland the highest number were from people in Dublin (486), followed by Cork (180), Kildare (87) and Wicklow (68).
The legislation also established the right for anyone involved in adoption – whether birth parent, birth sibling or adopted person – to register whether they would like to be contacted by a birth relative who is seeking them, on the contact preference register (CPR). As of August 6th, 2024, 3,853 entries have been made to the CPR and 367 matches made to date.
On the tracing side, out of a total of 842 tracing requests referred to the AAI by Tusla as at August 6th, 553 have been allocated a social worker with tracing activity in train.
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