The Department of Health and Children has ‘no plans’ to negotiate a bilateral adoption agreement with the Haitian government following the devastating earthquake last month.
Minister of State Barry Andrews said last week (January 26) that Haiti was currently not a signatory of the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption and adoptions from Haiti, carried out in accordance with local law, did not currently qualify for an entry in the Register of Foreign Adoptions.
He told the Dáil: “I am also conscious of the statement issued by the International Social Service on January 18, 2010 in the wake of the tragic events in Haiti which stated, inter alia, that ‘in general, international adoption should not take place in a situation of war or natural disaster, given that these events make it impossible to verify the personal and family situation of children’.
“The statement further specifies that ‘any operation to adopt or to evacuate children that are victims of the earthquake to another country must be absolutely avoided’. In addition, Save the Children, World Vision and the Red Cross have called for a moratorium on new adoptions until effects have been made to reunite children with their families,” stated Minister Andrews.
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