The Consultative Immigration Reform Working Group has delivered its recommendations on adoption.

The proposal for legislative reform was sent to Michael Dunkley, the Premier, as well as Minister of Home Affairs Patricia Gordon-Pamplin and Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert.

The document, signed off by chairman William Madeiros, recommends that citizenship be granted to all children under the age of 18 who are formally adopted by at least one Bermudian parent.

It states that five to ten adoption cases occur in Bermuda a year involving a foreign-born child.

Of those cases, it says: “The average age is higher than 12 and in the overwhelming majority of cases it involves a stepchild of a Bermudian.”

The working group formed as a result of the immigration reform protests that brought Bermuda to a standstill in March.

Its members have met three times weekly since April, and will continue to meet twice a week for longer sessions.

The group’s next focus will be on mixed-status families.

• To read the recommendations in full, click on the PDF link under “Related Media”

Update: this story has been amended to make clear that the working group’s proposal is that children adopted at birth by at least one Bermudian parent should be deemed Bermudian