A comparative study on forced adoption in European countries

Abstract

The State interferes with the right to private family life of both a parent and a child, when domestic measures hinder their enjoyment of family life, through restricting contact between the parent and child. Forced adoptions mark the ultimate interference by the State into this family life, since in these adoptions, domestic decisions are taken wherein the parental consent of the birth parent for the adoption of their child is dispensed with. Every state allows such adoptions to take place within their jurisdiction, when such a decision is in the best interest of the child. This grave interference into the family life of the biological family must however always be proportionate and necessary in a democratic society. The interests of all the persons involved must be adequately balanced when such an order is decided, and such adoptions may only be granted in exceptional circumstances, with the best interest of the child as the paramount consideration in every stage of the proceedings leading up to the adoption. In this dissertation, the domestic legislation providing for non-consensual adoptions of three European countries is analysed, in an attempt to evaluate what legal frameworks are in place that allow for the removal of parental rights in order for an adoption to take place. Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on adoptions without consent are also examined, in order to inspect at what point such interference violates the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.