The Adoption Board supports the broadening of the constitutional definition of the family, so that it reflects more fully the changing nature of society and of the adoption process.
The board was making its submission yesterday to the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution. Its CEO, John Collins, told the committee that there were about 2,000 children in long-term foster care who could not be adopted because they were from marital families.
Mr Collins said that Articles 41 and 42 of the Constitution placed too much emphasis on the rights of the family as a unit as against those of individuals within the unit. "One of the consequences is that children of marriage are not eligible to be adopted other than in very exceptional circumstances."
The board recommended that a new section should be inserted into Article 41 giving everyone a right to respect for their family life. This would include respect for non-marital fathers and mothers.
Asked if there should be more checks on adoption in the light of the Dowse case, Mr Collins said that the criteria for adoption were equally stringent with regard to domestic and inter-country adoptions (by Irish residents). He said he strongly recommended that the Hague Convention be implemented as quickly as possible, which would give the Adoption Board more powers.
Referring to the question of same-sex couples, Mr Collins said that the parenting capacities are the issue in adoption, along with the stability of the relationship of the adoptive parents.
Patricia Smyth, a senior social worker with the board, said that matching children to parents also arose, and the experience of same-sex couples in dealing with discrimination could be relevant in relation to certain children.
Treoir, the federation of services for unmarried parents and their children, also sought explicit recognition in the Constitution of the rights of children, regardless of the marital status of their parents. Children's rights and best interests should be paramount, it said.
It is also seeking to have all family forms given equal protection under the Constitution.
The submission pointed out that the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg had required states to treat non-marital families with the same respect as marital families.
Referring to the recommendation of the Constitution Review Group that all families be respected, while the marital family retains its special protection, Treoir said: "The idea of giving 'respect' to all families, but 'protecting' those based on marriage runs the risk of maintaining inequalities between families."
It favours the replacement of Article 41.2, recognising the work of mothers in the home, with a gender-neutral form of recognition of home and family life.
The Women's Health Council also advocates a general recognition for the work of caring for others in the home.
It also urged the affirmation of the rights of children as separate social entities.