Mexican adoptions not affected

CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor

Mon, Jan 30, 2012

THERE IS as yet no evidence that uncompleted adoptions from Mexico will be affected by recent events in the country in which 11 Irish couples have been questioned in connection with illegal adoptions, according to the chairman of the Adoption Authority.

Geoffrey Shannon told The Irish Times there was ongoing contact with Mexican authorities in relation to 18 adoptions currently in train from Mexico, but stressed this was routine under the Hague Convention on intercountry adoption, to which both Ireland and Mexico are signatories. (more…)

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Fitzgerald challenged on adoptions

The Irish Times – Friday, January 27, 2012

MARIE O’HALLORAN

A CLAIM by the Minister for Children viagra there is no evidence that previous adoptions in Mexico by Irish couples are unsafe has been challenged in the Dáil.

Frances Fitzgerald referred to the controversy in Mexico where 11 Irish couples had been questioned following the discovery of an international child-smuggling ring, after the arrest of three local women accused of buying children from their mothers.

During a Dáil debate on inter-country adoption, Ms Fitzgerald assured parents who had previously adopted from Mexico that the Adoption Authority of Ireland “has no evidence that previous adoptions are unsafe or are affected by the recent events in Mexico”.

Socialist Party TD Clare Daly questioned the statement and said that of 92 children adopted by Irish couples, 60 were arranged by a lawyer called Lopez, who was being sought by police in Mexico. (more…)

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Mexico authorities unravel child trafficking ring

Source: http://www.foxnews.com
Published January 23, 2012| Associated Press

ZAPOPAN, MEXICO – Life seemed to give Karla Zepeda a break when a woman came to her dusty neighborhood of cinderblock homes and dirt roads looking for babies to photograph in an anti-abortion ad campaign.

The woman asked to use the 15-year-old’s baby girl in a two-week photo shoot for $755, a small fortune for a teen mother who earns $180 a month at a sandwich stand and shares a small, one-story house with her disabled mother, stepfather, and three brothers.

But 9-month-old Camila wasn’t just posing for photographs.

Jalisco state investigators say the child was left for weeks at a time in the care of an Irish couple who had come to Ajijic, a town of cobblestone streets and gated communities 37 miles away, thinking they were adopting her. (more…)

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Irish adoptions from Vietnam to resume

CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor

The Irish Times – Friday, November 11, 2011

VIETNAM HAS ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, allowing Irish couples to adopt children from the country once more. The ratification will come into force on February 1st.

Until 2009, adoptions into Ireland from Vietnam took place under a bilateral agreement between the two countries. (more…)

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Adoption agency funded despite Vietnam suspension

CAROL COULTER, Legal Affairs Editor

Mon, Oct 10, 2011

THE HEALTH Service Executive paid more than €200,000 in 2010 to an adoption agency in Cork which deals with adoptions from Vietnam, despite the fact adoptions from that country were suspended in May 2009.

The money was paid through the HSE in Cork to the Cork-based Helping Hands adoption agency, set up in 2005 to assist couples adopting from Vietnam. (more…)

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Authority to travel for talks on adoption agreements

The Irish Times – Monday, October 10, 2011
CAROL COULTER

DELEGATIONS FROM the Adoption Authority of Ireland will travel to Mexico, the Philippines and the United States to discuss adoption agreements, the International Adoption Association was told at the weekend.

Geoffrey Shannon, chairman of the authority, told its annual conference it was in advanced discussions with a number of countries party to the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoption after the incorporation of the convention into Irish law last year.

He confirmed the authority was looking at Lithuania and Kazakhstan as prospective countries for adoption into Ireland, and said it would look at other Hague countries that came to the attention of prospective adoptive parents. (more…)

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UN committee backs call for Magdalene probe

Source:  http://www.rte.ie
Updated: 12:25, Tuesday, 7 June 2011

Justice for Magdalenes has welcomed a recommendation by a UN committee for a statutory inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. 6 June 2011 The Justice for Magdalenes campaign has welcomed a recommendation by a United Nations committee for a statutory inquiry into the Magdalene laundries. The committee also says the former residents should get redress and that the perpetrators of abuse should be prosecuted and punished. (more…)

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Profit, not care: The ugly side of overseas adoptions

Date: 2011-06-05

Lax regulation and an endless demand by childless couples in the West has created an often exploitative market in babies born in the developing world

By Laurie Penny
Sunday, 5 June 2011

In rural Nepal, where the going rate for a healthy orphan is $5,000 (£3,000), some 600 children are missing. They were taken by agents who came to the villages promising that they would educate the children and give them a better life in the capital, sometimes for a steep fee. The children never returned. (more…)

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Adoptions from Vietnam look likely to resume

Monday May 30 2011

Hopes have been raised that Irish couples will be able to adopt children again from Vietnambut no timescale has yet emerged.

The optimism follows a visit to Vietnam by a delegation from the Irish Adoption Authority who found a significant improvement in standards governing adoption there.

Adoption Authority chairman Geoffrey Shannon said: “It is clear from our discussions on the ground that the Vietnamese government has introduced a significant programme of reform.

“These include new laws on adoption in line with the Hague Convention on inter-country adoption as well as reforms to develop its wider child protection system.” (more…)

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First of approved adoption agencies to open

The Irish Times – Monday, May 30, 2011
CAROL COULTER

MINISTER FOR Children Frances Fitzgerald will today launch Ireland’s first accredited adoption mediation agency.

Arc Adoption will provide assistance to prospective parents seeking to adopt children abroad. Its chief executive is Shane Downer, former head of the International Adoption Association.

Since the passing of the Adoption Act last year, regulating inter-country adoptions, children can only be adopted from countries which have signed up to the Hague Convention or with whom Ireland has a bilateral agreement. (more…)

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