An Act to amend and extend the law in relation to the adoption of children; and, for that purpose, to amend the Adoption Act 2010 ; to provide for the repeal of Part 11 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 ; and to provide for related matters.
[19th July, 2017]
Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:
1. In this Act—
“Principal Act” means the Adoption Act 2010 .
2. (1) Section 24 of the Principal Act is repealed.
(2) Part 11 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 is repealed.
Amendment of section 3 of Principal Act
3. Section 3(1) of the Principal Act is amended—
(a) by the insertion of the following definitions:
‘Act of 2010’ means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;
‘civil partner’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Act of 2010;
‘cohabitant’ shall be construed in accordance with section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;
‘cohabiting couple’ means 2 adults who are cohabitants of each other and who have been living together as cohabitants for a continuous period of not less than 3 years;
‘donor-conceived child’ has the same meaning as it has in Part 2 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 ;
‘father’, in relation to a child, includes a man who is, under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 , a parent of the child where that child is a donor-conceived child;
‘relevant non-guardian’ means, in relation to a child—
(a) a father of the child who is not a guardian of the child pursuant to the Act of 1964,
(b) a parent of the child under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 who is not a guardian pursuant to the Act of 1964,
(c) a person who is appointed as a guardian of the child pursuant to section 6C of the Act of 1964 where subsection (9) of that section applies to that appointment but in respect of which the court has not made an order that the person enjoys the rights and responsibilities specified in subsection (11)(f) of that section, or
(d) a person appointed by the court to be a temporary guardian of the child under section 6E of the Act of 1964;
‘step parent’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 37;”,
(b) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “parent”:
“ ‘parent’ means, in relation to a child—
(a) the mother or father of the child, or
(b) a woman (other than the mother) who is, under section 5 of the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 , a parent of the child where that child is a donor-conceived child,
and includes an adopter of the child;”,
(c) by the substitution, in the definition of “guardian”, of the following paragraph for paragraph (a):
“(a) is a guardian of the child pursuant to the Act of 1964, other than a guardian appointed—
(i) under section 6C of that Act where subsection (9) of that section applies to that appointment but the court has not made an order that that person enjoys the rights and responsibilities specified in subsection (11)(f) of that section, or
(ii) under section 6E of that Act, or”,
(d) in the definition of “relative”, by the substitution of “relationship to the child being traced through a parent of that child” for “relationship to the child being traced through the mother or father”, and
(e) by the deletion of the definition of “orphan”.
Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act
4. Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution, in paragraph (k), of “parents” for “birth parents” in each place that it occurs.
Visits and enquiries pertaining to adoptions
5. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 12:
“12. The Authority may authorise a member or employee of the Authority or of the Child and Family Agency to—
(a) visit the homes of the child, the guardians of the child, the applicants for an adoption order or the recognition of an intercountry adoption effected outside the State and the person having custody of the child for the purposes of an adoption, and
(b) make enquiries on behalf of the Authority.”.
Amendment of section 16 of Principal Act
6. Section 16 of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):
“(1) A relevant non-guardian of a child, by notice to the Authority, may advise the Authority of his or her wish to be consulted in relation to—
(a) a proposal by an accredited body to place the child for adoption, or
(b) an application by the mother, step parent or relative of the child for an adoption order in respect of the child.”.
Pre-placement consultation procedure
7. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 17:
“17. (1) Where an accredited body proposes to place a child for adoption—
(a) the accredited body shall request the Authority in writing and in a form and manner approved by the Authority to provide the body with a copy of any notice received by the Authority under section 16(1) from a relevant non-guardian of that child, and
(b) the Authority shall—
(i) as soon as practicable, provide the notice (if any) to the accredited body, or
(ii) where at the time of the request under paragraph (a), it has not received any notice, so inform the accredited body and afterwards, if the Authority so receives a notice under section 16(1), provide the notice forthwith to the accredited body.
(2) Subject to this section and section 18, where an accredited body proposes to place a child for adoption, the accredited body shall, before placing the child for adoption, take such steps as are reasonably practicable, to consult any relevant non-guardian for the purposes of—
(a) informing him or her of the proposed adoption,
(b) explaining to him or her the legal implications of, and the procedures related to, adoption, and
(c) ascertaining whether or not he or she objects to the proposed adoption.
(a) each relevant non-guardian of a child indicates to the accredited body that he or she has no objection to the proposed placement of the child concerned for adoption, the accredited body may at any time thereafter, place the child for adoption, or
(b) any relevant non-guardian objects to the proposed placement of the child for adoption, the accredited body shall—
(i) notify in writing in the prescribed manner each of the parents, guardians and relevant non-guardians of the child, informing them that it is deferring the placement for such period (in this section referred to as the ‘deferral period’) as is specified in the notice, being a period of not less than 21 days, commencing on the date of the notice, for the purpose of affording the relevant non-guardian an opportunity to make an application to court under the Act of 1964, and
(ii) defer the placement in accordance with the notification.
(4) Where an accredited body receives a notice that an application to court referred to in subsection (3) (b) (i) has been made in relation to a child, the accredited body shall not place the child for adoption until the proceedings are concluded.
(5) Where an accredited body has not received—
(a) a notice referred to in subsection (4) within the deferral period, and
(b) any indication from a relevant non-guardian under paragraph (a) or (b).