dependent child

[seany]

hello i am looking for options regarding entry for our baby into Ireland.
my wife and i are both Irish passport holders however my wife has dual citizenship (Philippines)we are currently adopting our niece in the Philippines through domestic adoption as my wife is entitled to do as the child is a relative within the 4th degree,my wife is living with the child at the moment and has been since the birth 8 weeks ago,
my question is what route should we take when we decide to bring the child back to Ireland,i am also Dual Citizen Irish / British
your help would be really appreciated as i am going around in circles with no idea.

Kind regards

[Directive/2004/38/EC]

If you are both resident in Ireland, I would first of all suggest you consult with a Irish solicitor who specializes in international adoption. They should have some knowledge of what would be needed to have the adoption recognized in Ireland.

This is a very complicated area of law!

[seany]

thank you for the reply but my wife is now resident in the philippines has been there since june this year,she plans on staying there until the adoption is finalized which will probably bring us into 2015,i go back and forth to visit but i need to stay here for work reasons
we have a home over there and some small businesses,
i agree it is complicated,i have tried several lawyers here in ireland but they dont really want to get involved.

[Brigid from Ireland]

I presume the government of the Phillipines will give a passport for the child after she is adopted by a citizen of the Philipines. Then after that you can apply for a visa for her to travel to Ireland.

Alternatively send the completed adoption papers to Ireland with a passport application form, and your details. The adopted child of an Irish citizen is an Irish citizen, so if Ireland recognises the foreign adoption, the child is entitled to an Irish passport. You will need to enrol the child in the register of foreign adoptions and I think this may be difficult, so bring the child to Ireland on a Philipine passport with adoption papers from the Philipines. (It is important that you bring the child to Ireland before he/she is seven years old, as Irish law has some weird rules about children 'informally adopted before the age of seven years' which are still on the law books as far as I know, and these laws would strenghen your case greatly if you could bring the child to Ireland before age 7.

The problem is that Ireland may decide not to recognise the foreign adoption, and this is why getting a visa to bring the child to Ireland on a Philipine passport may be necessary.

Keep lots of photos of mum with the baby at all ages - it is important to be able to show that mum has been caring for the baby since birth and has bonded with the baby - a case in Ireland where an adopted baby was returned after about a year to the natural parents because they got married and the law said that as a married couple they could get the baby back (they married for that sole reason to get the baby back) caused a change in Irish adoption rules, and now the best interests of the baby are important,so if your wife can show she has care of the baby from birth the best interests of the baby are that the adoption is confirmed by Ireland when mum wants to return to Ireland with the one/two year old child.

The key to this is getting legal adoption papers under the system in the Philipines, once you have those everything else falls into place.

You may want to look at the adoption case of Tristian Dowse, as that would be a strong precedent in your case. Much of the Dowse judgement is in the public domain.

[CR001]

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