The Government is to consider regulating the operation of all pregnancy counselling services in the wake of evidence presented in the Baby A case.
Ms Justice Laffoy ruled that the founder of an unnamed pregnancy advice agency had unlawful custody of a baby born to a college student who had sought help from the agency.
The agency's handling of that and the case of a second baby, which the founder had also taken into his care, was "highly unsatisfactory", the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Mr Frank Fahey, said.
He intends discussing the issue with officials from his Department and the health boards. "I do not want to make any judgment until I have had the opportunity to look at the situation," he said. "I have to have a look at the whole issue of regulation and then see how feasible it is to regulate all counselling services."
The only pregnancy advice services whose operations are assessed by the State are the six groups who received Government funding last year. The Government provided almost £700,000 through the Eastern Health Board to fund: Cherish (£32,000); Cura (£360,000); the Irish Family Planning Association (£101,260); Life (£85,000); PACT (£33,000); and the Well Woman Centre (£85,000).
In each case the operations of the services, and the training of personnel, were monitored by the Eastern Health Board to ensure they were providing an adequate level of service, a Department of Health spokesman said. There were no obligations on any other pregnancy counselling agency.
The Minister was satisfied the 1998 Adoption Act had achieved its objective and had been effective in this case.
The Government was under growing political pressure last night to rectify the situation. The Fine Gael spokesman on health and children, Mr Alan Shatter, noted that an adoption society could be established lawfully only if it met certain specified statutory criteria and was approved as a registered adoption society by the Adoption Board.
"There are no statutory criteria for the establishment of `counselling agencies', no guidelines are in place prescribing minimum codes of practice and standards, nor is there any body with whom such an agency need first register before it opens its doors to provide a service to the public," Mr Shatter said.
"I could open the door tomorrow morning and begin providing a counselling service without having to meet any standard and without having to comply with any training criteria," he said.
The High Court case starkly illustrated the dangers inherent in the lack of any regulations in this area, Mr Shatter said. "The need for a statutory regulatory body had been evident for some time," he said. "I am calling on the Minister for Health to urgently introduce appropriate legislation."
When a crisis pregnancy occurred, pregnant mothers needed the assurance of knowing that those from whom they sought advice had the necessary skills and training to provide considered, sensitive and objective advice. It was contradictory to enforce rigorously regulations for adoption agencies when other agencies were breaking the law regarding adoptions, Progressive Democrats Senator Helen Keogh said.
Mr Fahey should complete a review of all pregnancy information services to ensure they were not giving misleading or unlawful advice on adoption, said Ms Keogh, who is also chairperson of the Well Woman Centre.
Mr Shatter was also concerned at Ms Justice Laffoy's decision not to name the pregnancy advice agency at the centre of the court case. Having regard to the inappropriate behaviour of its founder, it was a cause of concern that this agency continued to advertise its services. Other women seeking counselling, or those who might do so in the future, were entitled to know whether the agency they consulted was the one founded by the man involved in the Baby A case, and to form a judgment as to whether that was an agency from which they should seek help.
The Labour Party spokesperson on children, Ms Roisin Shortall, questioned whether the Eastern Health Board would have become aware of the attempt to arrange an unlawful private adoption if this had not been the second such attempt made by the counsellor and his wife.