Kathleen Funchion: Adoptees' Right to Birth Certificates
Kathleen Funchion introduced the Civil Registration Right of Adoptees to Information Amendment Bill 2021, seeking to give every adoptee unfettered access to their birth certificate. She argued this access is a fundamental human right and urged the state to end secrecy around publicly registered births.
Bill introduced and objective
Kathleen Funchion said the bill has one simple objective - to give every adoptee the right to unfettered access to their own birth certificate. She noted that births have been publicly registered since the mid-1800s and argued there should be no more secrecy.
Current access and legal framing
She explained that accessing a birth certificate is normally as simple as contacting the births deaths and marriage office in one's county, but many adoptees are denied that right. She invoked the right to identity as a fundamental right under EU law and the Irish constitution and said unlawful family separation remains a human rights violation until identifying information is provided.
Evidence from mother and baby homes and forced adoptions
Referencing the mother and baby home report, she said published accounts show mothers were often forced to sign declarations they would never seek out their child. She stated that adoptions in Ireland during the 20th century were by and large forced and in many cases illegal, arguing the state and church supported an inhumane regime.
Impact on adoptees and survivors
She argued the measure would have an immediate impact for adoptees and help restore family and personal identity. She rejected claims that natural mothers generally do not want adult children to know their identity, calling that argument false and unsupported by the evidence revealed in recent reports.
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Thanks very much and delighted to have the opportunity to introduce this bill today, the Civil Registration Right of Adoptees to Information Amendment Bill 2021 and it has one simple objective, to give every adoptee the right to unfettered access to their own birth certificate. This crucial amendment will seek to give adoptees access to their publicly registered birth certificate and the reality is that all births have been publicly registered since the mid-1800s so there should be no more secrecy. On bringing this forward I was thinking about my own birth certificate and in general all of us here engaged in public life will be well used to dealing with constituents and one of the things I imagine we say on a regular basis is you might need a copy of your birth certificate for that and I think it's something that a lot of us, including myself, take very much for granted and yet there are so many people living throughout the island today that don't have access to this very basic human right. It is the first official document that we will all receive and it authenticates who we are as a citizen and it is a human right for all of us to possess this document. Accessing this document is as simple as contacting the births deaths and marriage office in your own county, but this human right is not a right we afford all our citizens. This small but important legislative measure that I am introducing today will have an immediate impact for all adoptees and it is crucial that we bear in mind not only the right to identity is a fundamental right under EU law and the Irish constitution, but also in cases of unlawful family separation the human rights violation continues until information is provided to restore a person's family and personal identity. I strongly believe that it is false for the state to continue to argue that natural mothers generally do not wish their adult children to know their own identity and the notion that adopted people may cause harm in some way there simply isn't any proof. The reality is so evident in the stories that have emerged after the publishing of the mother and baby home report clearly shows that mothers were often forced to sign the opposite declaration and that they would never seek out their child. I think it is really important to stress that so many people were forced and were given no other option or no other choice. It is a fact that adoptions in Ireland during the 20th century were by and large forced and in many cases illegal. This must motivate us to do everything we can to rectify this for adoptees. Over the last few weeks the outpouring of grief and distress from survivors of mother and baby institutions has been palpable. They have barely shone a light on the cruel and inhumane treatment that suffered at the hands of church and state. There is no doubt in anyone's mind I would hazard a guess except maybe the commission's authors that the Irish state supported an inhumane regime of force and illegal adoptions. The cold hard facts show that they allowed children to be taken from their mothers and sent away. This is the last time in some cases that either mother or child ever saw one another again.
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