Applications for assessment for a Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability to Adopt are made to the HSE or accredited body who carry out the assessment of the prospective adoptive parents. (PAPs)

Applicants complete an application form/statutory declaration in which they confirm their identity, marital status, the country from which they intend to adopt (for domestic adoptions this will be Ireland) and their residency. A social worker is assigned to the applicants and carries out their assessment for adoption. When the assessment is complete an Intercountry Adoption Assessment Report (also known as a Home Study Report) is written by the Assessing Social Worker.  A recommendation is made by the Assessing Social Worker as to whether or not a Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability should be issued to the applicants.  The recommendation will include the specifics of the child or children that the applicant/s is/are deemed suitable to adopt e.g. age range, health issues.  This report is reviewed and signed by the Assessing Social Worker and by his or her Principal Social Worker or Team Leader. The report is forwarded to the Local Adoption Committee who considers the contents of the report and also makes a recommendation – one for each applicant. A copy of the report and the recommendations are sent to the Adoption Authority.  

The application form/statutory declaration and the report and recommendations are reviewed by the Adoption Authority to ensure that all the appropriate documents have been submitted, all forms have been completed correctly and all criteria in respect of suitability have been met. Where all documents are in place and are correct and recommendations are positive the Adoption Authority may issue a Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability.  

A Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability is granted for a period of 2 years from the date it is issued by the Adoption Authority. The Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability may include in it a statement relating to the age or state of health of a child whom the Authority considers that the applicant or applicants are suited to parent – this is based on information provided in the assessment report. Under current legislation, a year’s extension to the Declaration may be granted by the AAI.

The original Declaration of Eligibility and Suitability is sent to the applicants and a copy is sent to the Assessing Social worker for their records. 

Any question that applicants have about their application should be directed to their assessing social worker.

Application to Country of Choice

As part of the assessment process, applicants will have decided on a country from which they wish to adopt a child. This choice will be made from the list of countries with whom the AAI engages for purposes of adoption. Irish applicants can only adopt from countries which have ratified the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption1993 and among those, only from countries that will accept applications from Irish applicants.

Different countries will employ different systems for dealing with applications for intercountry adoption (ICA). However, these will typically include checking on the applicants’ eligibility (under the country’s expressed criteria). This may include the age of children available for ICA against the age of the child or children which the applicants are assessed for. In some countries, the age and marital status of the applicants will be a determining factor and in other countries, issues such as certain health conditions of the applicants can have a bearing on eligibility. It is best practice to research these issues before settling on a country of choice.

Process

The process involved in Intercountry adoption is governed by protocols laid down in both Irish legislation and more specifically in the Hague Convention. 

Under the terms of the Convention the assessment report (also known as the home-study report) and the Declaration (collectively known under Hague as an Article 15 report) must be submitted to an accredited body or the Central Authority under Hague in the applicants’ country of choice. This must be done, either by the Irish Central Authority or a body accredited by the AAI for such purposes. (Please note that it is the policy of the Authority to invoke the services of accredited bodies for such purposes wherever possible).

Matching & Adoption process

Matching of a child with applicants is done in the country of origin of the child and is based on the suitability of the prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) and their capacities to parent the child. The overriding concern under the Hague Convention is the welfare of the child and the principles employed are aimed at finding the most suitable home for the child to be adopted. Therefore, in some countries, in the best interests of the child involved, some PAPs may wait longer than others to be matched with a child based on the particular needs of the children to be adopted.

When a match is made, a referral of the child is made either by the Central Authority or accredited body in the country of origin of the child. This is transmitted to either the AAI or an Irish based accredited body in the form of a child-study report. This is known under Hague as an Article 16 and will typically contain a background report on the child to be adopted, the birth-parents (if known), medical history of the child and proof that consents, where applicable were obtained in the required manner and format. 

The AAI must consider all such referrals and make a determination, based on the capacities of the PAPs to provide for the needs of the particular child referred, taking into account the information contained in the Article 16 report and the PAPs’ assessment report.

As this is considered to be the most important stage in the adoption process, the AAI may employ the services of professionals, such as medical, social work or other disciplines to assist it in making a determination in these cases. If the Authority is not wholly satisfied that the particular match is in the best interests of the child involved, it may, without reference to the PAPs involved, return the referral to the country of origin.

However, if satisfied with the suitability of the match, the AAI will issue an Article 17 (consent to the placement of the child with the PAPs).The PAPs will be informed and following counselling where necessary, will be asked whether they wish to accept the referral.  Having considered the child referred, the PAPs may wish to travel to the country of origin to see the child and to decide whether they wish to accept the child. Either way, the PAPs are entitled to change their minds up to the time the adoption is effected. 

While most countries allow the PAPs to effect the adoption in the country of origin, there are some who may provide the PAPs with guardianship with a view to those PAPs obtaining a domestic adoption on their return to Ireland. 

Some countries provide guardianship with a requirement that PAPs provide post placement reports for a prescribed period before finalising the adoption in the courts of the country of origin.

Post Adoption

The final step in the intercountry adoption process is the registration of the adoption. This is the formal legal recognition of the adoption by the Irish State through the AAI. The PAPs must submit an application for registration of the adoption link to the AAI within 3 months of re-entering the State following the adoption. The Authority can register the adoption in the Register of Intercountry Adoptions on the basis of an Article 23 Certificate received from the country of origin of the child. (Article 23 is a certificate of assurance from the country of origin that the adoption was effected in compliance with the Hague Convention.)

The Register of Intercountry Adoptions contains details of the adopted child and the adoptive parents and is a public document open to scrutiny by members of the public. 

Certificates or copies of extracts from the Register may be obtained from the AAI for the appropriate fee and serve for all legal purposes as birth certificates for children adopted into Ireland by Irish residents.

Post-Placement, Post-Adoption Reports

Post-placement reports
Post-placement reports are required by some countries for a specified period from PAPs to whom guardianship of the child was granted and before a final adoption is effected. This is generally a legal requirement for adoption in these countries, and without which the adoption may not proceed.


Post-adoption reports
It is a condition of adoption in many countries that adopters provide information to the country of origin of the adopted child on that child’s ongoing condition and progress.

This information is typically provided in reports known as post-placement or post-adoption reports. These reports are normally completed by persons or bodies accredited by the AAI to provide such services to adopters and are usually compiled by a Social Worker.
The frequency and content of these reports is determined by the country of origin of the adopted child. Applicants wishing to adopt in a particular country will generally have signed an undertaking to provide these reports and such undertakings may be a pre-requisite to the acceptance of an application for adoption in many countries.

Under Irish legislation, the AAI cannot compel adopters to provide post adoption reports, as adoptions when complete confer upon the adopters the same rights, obligations and entitlements in respect of their families as on those whose families were formed by the addition of children born to them. The State does not have the right to interfere in the newly formed family unit in respect of requiring the adopters to provide any such reports. However, if adopters do not engage with and comply with the terms of their undertakings with regard to post-adoption reports, it may have consequences for the adopters should they seek to adopt again or, as is more common, it may have a negative affect on other prospective adopters who wish to adopt from the same country. Therefore, applicants are strongly urged to comply with the terms of the post-adoption reporting regime applicable in their cases.