Members of the House of Assembly have unanimously passed legislation which updates laws governing adoptions in Bermuda.

Minister of Social Rehabilitation, Dale Butler, who successfully piloted the Adoption of Children Bill 2006 through the House on Friday said the legislation brings Bermuda in line with international standards regarding adoptions.

The laws governing adoptions in Bermuda were last updated in the year 1963. Speaking after the debate, Mr. Butler spoke of some of the key changes to the legislation. ?Some of the differences between the 1963 Act and the Adoption of Children Bill 2006 include the fact that in 1963 there were no guiding principles, but in the 2006 Act there are guiding principles.

?In 1963 the Act did not require completing a home study and now emphasis is being placed on that. There are also guidelines for adopting children from overseas, and there are also guidelines for providing the appointment of an adoption co-ordinator. We have improved the legislation and made a number of changes to improve the life of children. This is a part of Government?s social agenda, which is to provide better opportunities for our children.?

Mr. Butler said the adoption co-ordinator would supervise the adoption process. ?In the last ten years we have had more interest from people who want to adopt children from overseas, so the legislation addresses that as well. The legislation clearly places the responsibility in the hands of Child and Family Services, where an adoption co-ordinator would have responsibility for monitoring the adoption process.

?There are certain processes that have to be followed to ensure that the views of a child of a certain age are taken into consideration, the natural parents rights are taken into consideration and there are processes that are in place with regard to future extenuating circumstances that will be taken into consideration should the child wish to find out, for medical or other reasons, who their parents were and the rights of the natural parents who may decide not to be contacted are also given consideration in the legislation.?

The legislation received the unanimous backing of the United Bermuda Party, however some opposition members expressed a number of concerns.

UBP MP John Barritt was concerned about the powers given in the legislation to the Director of Social Services.

?It seems to me that, in some cases, that the powers the Director has under this Act are too wide in some circumstances. It may be better, to see in the legislation why the Director has been given certain powers.?

Mr. Barritt and UBP MP Maxwell Burgess both expressed concern that the legislation gives a mother, under the age of 16 the right to consent to the adoption without consulting her parents.

Mr. Barritt said: ?Are we seriously suggesting here that a person under the age of 16 should be free to give valid consent to the adoption of a child and that there own parents would not have some say or even be consulted under this process? That strikes me as extraordinary. I understand there has to be counselling, but shutting out the parents seems to me to be an extraordinary step.?

Mr. Burgess believed the legislation was in clear conflict with the Children?s Act, regarding what the law says a minor can and cannot do.

?I am saying you can?t have a law that says a child under the age of sixteen isn?t mature enough to consent to sex, but is mature nine months later to say what she is going to do with the child. Because if I was the father, I would argue that she was mature enough to make the decision to have sex and question why do you have me up at Westgate for having sex with a minor who nine months later is mature enough to say what she wants to do with the child.?

He added: ?I think the Government, if they are not careful, will end up diminishing the law that speaks to engaging in sex with a child under the age of 16. It will not be seen as that bad a thing.?

Deputy Premier Paula Cox said the legislation was not encouraging someone to be promiscuous. ?I think that, what I look at this clause, I see it somewhat differently from the member who just took his seat,? she said. ?I see it as for instance, that what you are doing is not encouraging someone to be promiscuous and have a child and rewarding their behaviour.

?I think that I agree with much of what Mr. Burgess said, however, I see that you are prescribing to someone who is without legal capacity because they are under the age of 18.

?You are also putting them in a special category and are saying for the purposes of this bill that they are able to give permission for their children to be given up for adoption. ?For instance if a young girl is raped and has a child, I think that generally what you are saying is that this young person is going to have the legal capacity to say that she would be able to have someone adopt that child.

?I think it speaks more to legal capacity as opposed to saying that someone is being rewarded or being given an easy way out, and I think this is important.?

PLP MP Glenn Blakeney agreed: ?I think it is a question of capacity, but you also have to look at it from a very wide capacity because you have on the one hand a 12- or 14-year-old who may be raped or who may be mentally incapacitated with regard to their medical conditions.

?But the one who should have input, even though they made a mistake, I think should have the right to weigh in on the matter, not withstanding the fact that they may have made a mistake.

?Because there could be someone in their family structure whom they would prefer to have the first right of refusal based on their participation in expressing what they believe would be in the best interest in those circumstances.?

United Bermuda Party MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser, who has adopted a foster child, gave her support to the act but called for a study into the welfare of children in the adoptive system.

She said: ?Every child deserves to be loved. That?s one of the reasons why we need to take a look, as a Government, at the legislation and review it and bring it up to date.

?Now we need to change the attitudes in our community. If we take in and love and nurture our children, it?s not impossible to love someone else?s child.

?It?s not impossible to change the mannerisms of an eight- or nine- or ten-year-old. A child watches and absorbs the environment which they are in.

?We will support this piece of legislation but it?s important a proper study is done. I would like to see a study completed of the welfare of our children that are in the adoptive system.

?We need to see how we can prevent a child from having to go in the system in the first place.

?How can we build a better home environment? We have parents out there who neglect their responsibilities.?

Smith?s North MP Patrice Minors said children themselves should get the chance to have a say in the matter. She said: ?It?s important that the legislation will give the opportunity for the child to be interviewed, to see how the child feels about being adopted and see what their relationship is with their adoptor.?

Mrs. Minors added that people needed to change their mindset towards the adoption issue.

She said: ?It?s important that we as a community don?t look degradingly at people who put their children up for adoption, and that we don?t look degradingly at a child up for adoption.?

Deputy opposition leader Jon Brunson backed the act, but stressed it needed to be managed properly. He said: ?I feel, as a parent, that it?s important to look out for the well-being of the children. This piece of legislation goes a long way towards improving the adoption procedure we have in Bermuda. We now have the introduction of a director and an adoption co-ordinator.

?We should keep the protection of children in mind and avoid any bureaucracy, where we create an environment where people are saying ?I thought you were going to do it?.?

Mr. Butler said the opposition had raised a number of good points, which would be taken under advisement and in some cases addressed in the rules and regulations, which will be attached to the legislation.

He said he hoped that people who are interested in adoptions would take advantage of the legislation. ?The legislation was improved significantly. (There are) 157 children in foster homes, perhaps if the process is as clear as we think it is, and things move smoothly, we will see some of those children put up for adoption and this might increase the number of children who are adopted in Bermuda.?