Children’s rights in intercountry adoption and the search of origin

Abstract

For individuals who have been raised by their biological parents, knowing one’s origins is considered a norm; however, for adopted children, such is an interest which is only recently being acknowledged as a fundamental right of the child. Although this right is gradually being recognised as an essential emotional necessity for children in the formation of their identity, this has yet to be clearly determined within legislation. Nonetheless, the right to know has been the cause of numerous debates among scholars and state authorities, mainly due to the intricacies encompassing this right coupled with the various well-founded notions within present legislation. This dissertation shall aim to examine the child adoptee’s right to know their origins, how it is defined within legislation and what measures the law takes for the facilitation of addressing such right. It shall attempt to analyse both national and foreign law to discover where the search of origin for adoptees, with special regard had to intercountry adoptees, is catered for and the measures one may need to take to gather information on their pre-adoptive past.