ADOPTIONS BETWEEN Vietnam and Ireland are set to resume over the coming months after the two governments reached agreement on key issues aimed at ensuring the rights of children are protected.
The move is likely to be welcomed by many of the 200 or more Irish couples who were in the process of adopting children from Vietnam until a bilateral adoption agreement lapsed in May 2009. This followed a series of scandals relating to fraudulent adoptions. However, those seeking to adopt may still face significant delays under a revised agreement because new safeguards in Vietnam mean there will be fewer children available to adopt.
Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald, who recently returned from talks with officials in Hanoi, said she had made significant progress over key issues. “The best interests of the child have been key to our discussions,” she said. “There is now agreement on all the main issues such as safeguards relating to consent, dealing with central authorities and issues to do with money.”
When the adoption agreement between Ireland and Vietnam lapsed in May 2009, there were 19 couples at an advanced stage of adopting a child from Vietnam and well over 200 who were at an earlier stage.
Ms Fitzgerald said that, under the new agreement, those couples will be given priority treatment.
News of progress comes as latest figures show the number of children adopted here from abroad has fallen significantly from just under 400 in 2008 to just over 200 last year. This is due mainly to Ireland’s ratification of the Hague Convention in November 2010, which excluded several countries popular with Irish people for adoption such as Vietnam, Russia and Ethiopia. However, Vietnam’s ratification of the convention next month brings it back into play.
Some other details remain to be resolved and adoptions are expected to resume “early in 2012”, according to officials. Chairman of the Irish Adoption Authority Geoffrey Shannon, who has also been involved in the discussions, said the board of the authority will meet to discuss the new agreement next week. He said he was impressed at the shared commitment on both sides to key issues such as safeguarding the rights of children: “There is now consensus on these key issues and a momentum towards ensuring that adoptions are in the best interests of the child.”
