Ireland to Ratify the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children
As of November 1st, Ireland will Ratify the Hague Convention which will solidify their agreement to the high standards required to ensure the protection of children. The international pact means that citizens of that country may only adopt children from countries that have also ratified the treaty. That will mean that, while it will lend more credibility to the adoption process, there will be less children available to Irish people seeking to adopt. There is one provision for anyone who has a declaration “permission” to adopt from the Health Service Executive, by November 1st can still go to countries that don’t have an agreement with Ireland. However, anyone who is still waiting for a declaration will have to adopt from the new list of eligible countries. Previously popular countries such as Russia, Vietnam and Ethiopia are excluded from the list, so unless a declaration has already been granted, Irish families will not be able to adopt from these countries. Vietnam is actually one step closer to ratifying the Hague convention as their National Assembly has recently passed legislation which should allow for a move to ratify. Once the two countries are both members of the Hague convention, adoptions would likely resume. What are your thoughts? With all the changes in recent years with various countries opening and closing their doors, have you experienced an interruption in the process to adopt a child due to countries changing rules?
