http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/members-of-the-authority.html

http://rollercoaster.ie/Discussions/tabid/119/ForumThread/141214639/Default.aspx

Chairman of the Adoption Authority Geoffrey Shannon, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Canavan, the new CEO of the AAI.

Adoption Authority Announces Chief Executive Officer Appointment

Saturday, 7th May 2011

 

The Adoption Authority is very pleased to announce the appointment of Elizabeth Canavan as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Authority. Ms Canavan has taken up the statutory appointment this month as a result of an open public competition for the new position which was conducted by the Public Appointments Service.

Ms Canavan comes to the Adoption Authority with the notable benefit of many years of previous experience working in senior positions within the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Health and Children. Her assignments there included extensive experience at senior level in the areas of adoption policy and adoption legislation. In particular, Ms. Canavan played a major role within the OMCYA in the drafting, development and enactment of the Adoption Act 2010.

The Chairman of the Authority, Mr. Geoffrey Shannon said “This appointment has been awaited and the appointment of Ms. Canavan is especially welcome. Ms. Canavan has a strong reputation in the adoption field with the former Adoption Board, the Department and a wide range of stakeholders both here and abroad. The Authority members are looking forward to supporting Ms. Canavan in her leadership role in building the Authority’s capacity to deliver a world class adoption service for Ireland in which the best interests of children are the first and paramount consideration.”

The Authority was established in November 2010. Work to date has included the accreditation of agencies – 6 agencies have been accredited to date. Agencies can register for a range of activities. Currently, 1 agency has been registered for the purposes of providing information, advise and counselling to prospective adoptive parents; 1 Agency for the purposes of providing mediation services; 1 agency for the purposes of assessment of prospective adopters; 2 agencies for the purposes of information and tracing; and 1 agency for the purposes of placement of children for adoption and information and tracing.

A number of other applications by agencies are currently in process.

The Authority has also been active in meeting with other jurisdictions to build relationships in those countries. The Authority has already travelled to a number of jurisdictions in order to make contact with the Central Authorities; advise of our processes and procedures, assess the need for additional administrative arrangements or agreements; and to glean as much information as possible of relevance to prospective adopters from those countries. The Chairman said “building strong relationships with other Central Authorities will be key to ensuring the achievement of standards relating to the adoption process”. The visits also provide opportunities to streamline processes on both sides and get up to date information for prospective adopters on developments in these countries.

The Authority has confirmed that it is visiting Vietnam this week (week beginning 9th May) at the request of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald. The purpose of the visit is to gather information. The Chairman said “Ireland has a recent tradition of adoption from Vietnam and has enjoyed good relationships with that country. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a sovereign state and will make its own decisions on the ratification and implementation of the Hague Convention. Our purpose in travelling is to gain information which will support our understanding of the progress made and the processes now envisaged. It will also be an opportunity to seek information on the manner in which Vietnam proposes to implement the Convention, including inter alia, which countries it proposes to work with in the future.”

The Authority has indicated that it will be reporting its findings to the Minister for Children in due course. The Authority has also advised that any new information regarding Vietnam will be posted on the Authority’s website on www.aai.gov.ie as soon as it is available.

ENDS