Reimagining adoption in Ireland: a viable option for children in care?

This article considers how adoption may develop as viable option for permanency planning for children in care in Ireland following the Constitutional Referendum in 2012 on Children’s Rights. In order to be prepared to consider how adoption can be developed as a viable alternative to long term care, we need to focus on the specific context of Ireland and the learning from elsewhere. The themes that are central to understanding the Irish context are: history of adoption in Ireland; impact of a dominance of a familist ideology underpinned by the Irish Constitution’s Article 41 and 42 and the nature of Irish child and family law. With reference to learning from other jurisdictions, we have selected three inter-related themes: learning from the development of adoption as a permanency option; critical overview of concurrency planning and a consideration of open adoption. This article is intended to be informative and exploratory in recognition that this theme is likely to evolve over a number of years within the system in Ireland. The article highlights the extent to which the local socio-cultural and historical context influences policy development and should have resonance for both for readers in Ireland and other jurisdictions experiencing similar reforms.