Thousands of Irish Adoption Records not Released by Deadline
Thousands of adopted people who requested their birth records under a new law in the Republic of Ireland did not receive them by the deadline on Wednesday.
The Adoption Authority of Ireland and the child and family agency Tusla said that “out of more than 6,000 requests, just 65 had been concluded.”
The requests were made under the Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022, which gives adopted people an automatic right to see their original birth certificates.
It became law in June 2022.
The agencies said part of the reason for the delay was that the law gave officials ‘just one month’ to find records.
A spokesperson for the Adoption Authority of Ireland said they had received an “unprecedented” number of applications since the law came into effect.
They added that the small number of records provided was due to the “complexity associated with gathering, collating, and checking the information.”
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“The Adoption Authority remains committed to providing birth information to applicants as professionally and efficiently as possible,” the spokesperson added.
“Any applicant who hasn’t received their information within 30 days, has received an email detailing the reasons for the delay and informing them that the deadline for a response has been extended to 90 days as per the legislation.”
BBC /Shakirat Sadiq
