Triangulating children's rights law: which future for intercountry adoptions in Europe?

There is a growing movement against intercountry adoptions. In several European countries, a debate on the future of intercountry adoption is raging, also in light of scandals and an increasingly vocal community of adopted children. This contribution looks into the future of intercountry adoption by triangulating global children’s rights law (the CRC and to a lesser extent the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption) with European law of the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Union. The Convention on the Rights of the Child does not encourage intercountry adoptions, but does neither prohibit them. All instruments see intercountry adoption as a subsidiary care solution. The best interests of the child, which is central to each adoption regulatory framework, does not in itself offer any conclusive guidance: it can be invoked to support or challenge intercountry adoptions. Forceful charges of commodification of children and arguments about neo-colonialism and misguided humanitarianism, compounded by practices of child laundering and child trafficking, do raise questions about the moral justifiability of intercountry adoption as a form of alternative care.

ISBN:978-1-78068-972-2

Publication year:2020

Keywords:H1 Book chapter

Accessibility:Closed