Organisation bids to cut adoption times Sunday, June 21, 2009 By Susan Mitchell A new organisation that claims it will cut the waiting times for people who want to adopt children from overseas has lodged a formal proposal with the Adoptions Board.
The organisation is being backed by the Intercountry Adoption Association (IAA) and promoted by figures from the business and healthcare sectors, including the chairwoman of the Communicorp Group, Lucy Gaffney, hospital developer Michael Cullen and the former chief executive of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Michael Lyons.
The board also includes Ultan Shannon, a partner with Arthur Cox Solicitors; Dr Elizabeth Nixon, a psychology lecturer at Trinity College, Dublin; Mark Brennock, director of public affairs with PR firm Murray Consultants; and Brian Kearney, a PhD sociology student at UCD.
Shane Downer, chief executive of the IAA, said a new assessment organisation could dramatically reduce the waiting times many people face after they apply for approval to adopt through the Health Service Executive (HSE). The body could be operational by January next year and could carry out 300 assessments a year if it received the go-ahead, Downer said.
The new organisation is proposing to carry out assessments within one year. At present, people in the east of the country are routinely waiting four years before they receive what is called a declaration of eligibility and suitability from the HSE.
Figures seen by The Sunday Business Post show that social workers who concentrate on intercountry adoptions carried out an average of 13 assessments each last year - far below the official target of 18 to 24 per social worker.
Barry Andrews, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, has already promised to speed up the adoption process, saying that many parents felt the system was riddled with ‘‘bureaucratic inertia’’.
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