The process of foreign adoptions had been brought into disrepute by the case in Indonesia, the chairman of the International Adoption Association (IAA), Kevin O'Byrne, said yesterday.
He was referring to the case of Tristan Dowse (3) who was left by his adoptive parents at an orphanage in Indonesia last year. Mr O'Byrne called on the Irish Adoption Board, which registered Tristan's adoption, to prepare additional regulations.
The Ambassador to Indonesia, Hugh Swift, is to meet senior Indonesian officials today to discuss the legality of Tristan's adoption by Irish accountant Joe Dowse and his Azerbaijan-born wife, Lala.
Mr Swift, who is based in Singapore, travelled to Jakarta last night and is expected to meet senior officials from the social affairs ministry to discuss the paperwork surrounding the case.
The ministry has said it believes the adoption of the boy is illegal because there is no record of a letter from the social affairs ministry approving it.
Tristan's adoptive father has denied that the boy's adoption was improper.
Tristan's adoption, which took place when he was eight weeks old, was certified by the Irish Adoption Board. He is now an Irish citizen with an Irish passport. A year ago he was left in an orphanage outside Jakarta after his adoptive parents said the adoption was not working out. The couple later had a baby and moved to Azerbaijan.
Mr O'Byrne said on RTÉ radio yesterday that the principal effect would be that Irish couples would only be able to receive children from countries that had ratified the Hague Convention on cross-border adoptions or had bilateral or state agreements with the State, such as Vietnam.
The Republic will ratify the Hague Convention later this year.
This would mean it would be more difficult for couples to get a foreign adoption.
However, in the IAA's view this was a rights-based legislation for children, who were the main concern.
The current assessment process was quite lengthy and included a probation course. Issues such as bonding and attachment were discussed in great detail on the course. Coupled with that there were other issues such as racism which were gone through, he said.
"Possibly in terms of the Irish context, Irish people are very well prepared. I don't necessarily think that Irish people who live abroad, over which the Irish State has no control, I don't think it's going to make a wit of difference to them," Mr O'Byrne said.
Those heading the Irish Adoption Board and the board itself needed to prepare additional regulations "because this recent case of which I have some of the facts, not all of them, has brought the whole process into disrepute and I'm calling on the Adoption Board to come up with some criteria now whereby people who adopt in foreign adoptions, who actually wish to register those children in the Irish context, that they too enter into some sort of preparation course and be more prepared for it."
There were five criteria used for couples when they were being assessed. One was that the couple should recognise the need for and arrange appropriate support and intervention from social services, educational and other services throughout the child's life, he said.