Part of Ministerial Statements – in the Northern Ireland Assembly am 11:00 am ar 25 Mehefin 2024.
Thank you for that question. We all recognise the difficulties caused by not having access to records. For many victims and survivors, it has been a real cause of distress and, for obvious reasons, frustration. As the Member will know, access to adoption records is the responsibility of the Department of Health, which, we understand, worked closely with victims and survivors of mother-and-baby institutions, Magdalene laundries and workhouses to revise the guidance used by the health and social care trusts, which was published in November 2023. The updated guidance has been implemented, so it is now in effect. Officials will continue to closely monitor the situation. There seems to have been some positive movement on it, and we hope that that is maintained over the monitoring period, which ends in November 2024. We are, however, aware of continued issues in some areas. Individuals are being supported with those issues as well.