Adoption: a law that undermines the rights of the child

rcf.fr
19 January 2022

The National Assembly adopted at second reading -pardon the pun-, a law that puts associations on their feet. Firstly because they consider that, under the guise of “modernization”, this law undermines the consent to adoption

of birth parents.

A complex subject

Nothing less. Watching the broadcast of the debates is interesting. We are rediscovering how important laws can be passed by a tiny number of deputies. The polite, yet lively exchanges shed light on a complex subject. To summarize in broad strokes, until now, parents, often a single mother in difficulty, entrusted the ASE with their child, thus giving them access to the status of ward of the State.

In a second step, in another step, this same birth parent gave his consent for this child to be adopted. From now on, the two stages will become one: placement under State guardianship will be accompanied, in the same movement, by the possible opening towards simple or full adoption.

A violation of children's rights

Thus, a parent unable to raise his child for x reasons, at a given time in his life, will have in fact renounced filiation. The decision to give the child up for adoption will be taken by an administrative body. In a column published by our colleague La Croix, on January 13, four associations denounce this attack on the rights of the child, under the pretext of administrative simplification. They show that the parents concerned, admittedly few in number, often live in great social and psychological precariousness and that they need support.

If they demanded the repeal of article 13 voted yesterday, one can imagine their vigilance on the decrees of application. As for the private works dealing with adoption, they are clearly in the sights. They will no longer be able to be entrusted with children on national territory. As for international adoption, it is increasingly abused. If fraud and other trafficking must be avoided, should it be abandoned quietly?

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