Dear Supporter,
As you are aware, our campaign has focused on open access for Adoptees to their own information.
This week, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, announced that she had consulted with the Attorney General and was intending to move the Adoption (lnformation and Tracing) Bill 2016 forward after a ‘short, sharp consultation process’.
As the Department of Children and Youth Affairs acknowledged Aitheantas as ‘key stakeholders’ in this process, we have received details from the Minister as to the consultation process. We have been invited to make a submission as regards same.
We have been given 4 options and the Minister proposes that we select from these options as to which is preferable.
From the outset, we have sought to involve our members and it will remain the same with this consultation process. Therefore we intend to conduct discussions through our Lobby Group only.
Members of our lobby group have always been invited to make observations and suggestions and they will be invited to contribute their views and opinions which we will take into consideration when making our own submission.
Our lobby group is a closed group which can be accessed and joined from the main Aitheantas Facebook page here.
As the Minister's own consultation process is very short, we similarly will have to restrict own consultation process to a few days. If you wish to give an opinion on this you will need to be in our lobby group.
There will be no further public statements made by us on our position until we have completed our submission.
We have continued to push forward with new initiatives to assist and support the Adoptee community.
Our petition is nearly at 6,500 signatures, please sign if you haven’t already and share if you can.
Our survey responses have been very substantial and has allowed Adoptees, and their families, an opportunity to have their opinions and views heard. It is open to Adoptees, Children of Adoptees and the Spouses/Partners of Adoptees. The survey is anonymous and takes 5 minutes to complete. You can complete it here.
We will also be starting our Newsletter, The Adopted View, from January 2020. You can sign up to receive the Newsletter here.
Could we also ask if you get a chance to vote in the Irish Book Awards. Caelainn Hogan’s book, Republic of Shame, has been nominated and apart from being wonderfully written, it is vital reading for Adoptee and non-Adoptee alike. We would very much like to see Caelainns book getting the acknowledgement it so richly deserves. You can vote here.
Aitheantas was delighted to be involved in Evanne Ni Chuilinn's documentary, Uchtu will be Broadcast on TG4 on the 13th November at 21.30 (9.30pm). This documentary will be well worth watching, while our involvement may just be a microsecond, this is tremendous, insightful work by Evanne exploring her own journey. Maith thu Evanne!
We are very fortunate in Aitheantas to have wonderful founder members, one of whom, Anne Marie, operates this group. This page may be of assistance to Adoptees and Birth Parents alike - Anne Marie uses the DNA match finder tool.
Thank you all for your continuing support and rest assured that we will continue to work, assist, support and promote the interests of the Adoptee community as best we can.
Over the last year we have evolved from a group, to a community that supports each other in the best interests of all Adoptees, we will continue to push forward for equality, dignity and respect for All Adoptees.
Thank you,
Maree & the Aitheantas team