The Committee for Welfare, Public Health and Family of the Flemish Parliament is once again organizing hearings on intercountry adoption. This time, the final report of the expert panel on intercountry adoption gave the starting signal. This final report examines whether and how malpractice in intercountry adoption can be prevented. The panel of experts gave twenty recommendations to fundamentally reform intercountry adoption and accommodate victims of malpractice.
The Children's Rights Commissioner participated in the expert panel. We endorse all recommendations of the final report. Nevertheless, with our advice we will go deeper into some recommendations that touch on children's rights or complaints and reports that came to us:
States that allow or recognize adoption must ensure that the best interests of the child are the primary consideration. But simply referring to the best interests of the child as the primary consideration in adoption is not enough. It is especially relevant to describe and assess that importance in terms of content. What is in the best interests of the child cannot be determined or described in advance and can only be assessed on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation, the personal context, one's own needs and requirements. There are various sources of inspiration to fulfill that interest of the child.
The principle of subsidiarity makes intercountry adoption the exception rather than the rule. From a children's rights perspective, adoption only comes into play when all other appropriate care options in the country of origin have been exhausted. Although it is not clear from a legal point of view what exactly appropriate internal solutions are and how subsidiary intercountry adoption is compared to other care solutions, no generally unanimous answer is needed here. Every situation is different. In the interest of each child, the different care solutions must be weighed up against each other.
Informed consent from children from 12 years and from the first parents is required. The Children's Rights Commissioner finds the age limit of 12 years to give permission arbitrary. By analogy with the decree on the legal position of minors in Integrated Youth Care, we argue for a presumption of competence from the age of 12, but with the option of deviating if the minor who is younger is indeed sufficiently mature and competent to make certain decisions. to take. Whether the law in the country of origin expressly requires the consent of the first parents must be decisive in deciding whether or not to cooperate with a country of origin.