Inter-Country Adoption Information
This section of our wesbite will provide some basic information on intercountry adoption. It is intended as an introduction. More detailed information is available in the Guide to Intercountry Adoption, available to members of the IAA.
Please use the menu bar on the left hand side to navigate your way around our online guide.
Disclaimer
The information contained in the pack is obtained from many sources and is supplied in good faith. However members are advised to verify the information for themselves and to be aware that, in particular, the political and social circumstances of a country can change very rapidly.
Legislative changes can take place in sending countries and also in Ireland, which may have profound implications for couples hoping to adopt in a particular country.
In fact, the Adoption Bill 2009 is working its way through the Irish Government at present, and will change the regulation and practice of adoption in and into Ireland. The Bill aims to allow Ireland to ratify the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which Ireland signed in 1996.
Ratification of the Hague Convention by Ireland will result in legislative change and new regulations here. Equally as more and more countries ratify the convention, it will have implications for adoption procedures in those countries too.
The IAA welcomes any information about changing procedures and circumstances in other countries. In order to anticipate developments we have included information on as many Hague countries and bilateral countries as we could.
The IAA has produced a Guide to Intercountry Adoption which is available to members of the organisation. The Guide currently includes 2 sections:
Part 1: Introduction to Intercountry Adoption.
Part 2: Guide to Countries
In addition we are working on Part 3, which will provide information on Post-Adoption issues, supports and general guidance.
We advise that you read the any information supplied in the countries section in conjunction with the information in the topic Legal Effects of Adoption by Country and Hague Convention Signatories re the list of countries whose adoption law has been examined by the Adoption Board in Countries Compatibility section.
Acknowledgements
The IAA acknowledges the enormous contribution of Helen Dolan who produced the first IFAG information pack.
It also gives great thanks to Mary Murray, Peter Murray, Carol Moffitt, David Moffitt, Pauline Cunningham and Joanna Connolly Brady for their work in compiling, typing, editing and publishing that guide.
Thank you also to those members who freely gave of their time to provide up to date information about individual countries and their own experiences.
The latest version of the guide has been prepared by Shane Downer and Trish Connolly, and is available to members as a PDF document from the IAA office. Email trish@iaaireland.org to request a copy.
