Anyone Irish out there watching Prime Time right now?

[holycowwhatnow]

Very interesting debate about adoption rights of gay people in Ireland (or lack thereof).

I'm also listening with cynicism because not one person has mentioned so far that there are currently NO adoptions happening, other than in-family adoptions.

Not in Ireland, but sounds interesting. What kind of things were talked about (or was it just a rehash of all the tired old for and against arguments?)

It does seem a bit of an odd thing to talk about if there aren't any adoptions happening anyway though

Not in Ireland but of Irish descent, and very interested. Great that there is actually a debate - 20 years ago it wouldn't have been, I shouldn't think.

strongsinglemum, have you already been having some fun tonight? You sound like you could do with a long glass of water and then to bed.

I'll have a look on RTE Player tomorrow, it sounds interesting.

Yes Lilka, part of me wanted to scream 'What's the bloody point?' at the TV because currently there's nothing happening in adoption here. The hope is that when the new Children's Act is enacted into law that some children who are currently in the care system will be allowed to be adopted.
Currently there's no problem with gay people fostering, but gay people can't adopt. But single people can. Including gay single people So go figure.
The case was brought up about mostly lesbian couples where one person is the bio mother of their child, the other parent is not allowed to adopt the child and has no legal rights to the child if the bio parent were to die. And that's even when the parents are in a civil partnership.

Yes, there was all the usual stuff trotted out about children needing male and female parents etc but in fairness, it was a good debate. And as you say, Devora, I can't imagine this would even be a topic of discussion 20 years ago, let alone be broadcast on TV. The programme is very widely watched here so maybe it'll open a few eyes. To me, the most relevant comment was from a woman from Adoption Alliance, a group that represents adult adoptees. Her view was that children should be adopted by the most emotionally available parents for them, not necessarily by a Daddy and a Mammy. Made me think of you and your dd, Lilka. There was lots of spouting about adoption being what is best for the child and that this automatically meant 2 parents of different gender but there was balance in the discussion. There will always be a far right view but thankfully that's no longer the mainstream view about things.

Don't know if you can access RTE player in the UK?

PMSL what did she say about me? Someone tell me what she said to me!! I want to save this for posterity

Will read your post in a second holycow

DD2 is that you?? Nah, the spelling's too good!

Yes I can watch Prime Time in the UK :) I will try and watch it tomorrow and let you know what I think

I do think it's great that this is now a debateable issue, and it needs to be where joint same sex adoption is still illegal. I think I've seen quite a few adoption debates in the UK now though and they all cover exactly the same ground so I just stopped watching them

Before the Adoption Act 2002 in the UK, it was fine for a same sex single parent to adopt (like me) and it was also fine (I mean it was legally fine, same sex people faced prejudice from agencies/SW's) for a same sex couple to bring an adoptive child into their home- but only one of the two parents could become a legal parent by applying for the adoption order on their own! Crazy