WHO YOU ARE

Adoption may be the only
hope for becoming a family. It
is a key part of self-identity for
every adopted child.

As children grow and develop,
the desire to know who they
are will grow as well.


No one should be denied the right to learn
the truth about their origins. However, telling
the truth is not always easy for parents.


They are afraid that one day the children
might prefer biological parents and lose
family ties with them. That’s why mothers
and fathers use their power to decide what
their children should know about
themselves. Is it a wise decision for building
a healthy family relationship?

Adoption is a complicated
procedure which requires
lots of paperwork.


One of the documents made recently
mandatory is the certification of the
completion of a training organized by the
Social Service Agency.


During the trainings, potential parents
acquire useful skills and knowledge
regarding parenting.


It’s worth mentioning that all tips discussed
during workshops are advisory. Thus,
adoption-seekers decide themselves what
to take into account.

-Is truth worth telling?
-What if they find out?
-Why would we want to lie...
-What are we afraid of?




There are no obligations, and
opinions vary. However,
most participants agree that
concealing children’s identity
and making them live in a
frame is problematic. .



One day this frame might
become fragile and break.

Then a child will take
a step away...




Telling children the truth about
adoption is unsurprisingly one
of the most debated issues at
the workshops.



The dilemma sparks multiple
questions and potential parents
share various perspectives.

International experience
- a ‘Home’ is not just a
place to live.




For children, being at ‘Home’ usually
means living with their family in an
environment that fosters a sense of
belonging, identity and origin.

Recommendations From UNICEF

The UNICEF Office of Research suggests some guides to
Good Practice of intercountry child adoption which
underline the importance of having qualified and ethical
personnel mandated to oversee the consent procedure.



Professionals who work with children on placement
decisions must understand and appreciate the child’s
history, and have a good knowledge of child development,
family systems assessment, the impact of trauma on
children and the effects of grief and loss.

According to both the CRC (Convention on
the Rights of a Child) which is linked to the
best interests determination – and the 1993
Hague Convention, children who have the
maturity and capacity to present their
opinion on the determination of adoptability
should be given the chance to do so.

Reform adoption systems with
priority attention given to:

A. Strengthening safeguards against abuse in adoption
processes: Reforms are needed to improve the procedure
for adoption.



The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption provides
important standards for the necessary safeguards which
need to be in place. A Convention adopted by the Council
of Europe encourages countries to improve national
adoption procedures by making them more transparent,
efficient and difficult to abuse.

B. Clarifying the role of adoption
in child care policy:



The reform of the adoption system should
be an integral part of broader child care
system reforms to ensure that adoption is
used only when no other possibility to
maintain the child with the biological family
is available.

Examples

The Republic of Guyana has started to engage children into
decision making processes since 2010s . An adopted child
has a right to know who their natural parents are, and adoptive
parents need to encourage a relationship with natural parents.



The child also has a right to be heard and to participate in the
court process by saying how they feel about decisions that
will affect them. Once they are able to do so the Judge should
listen to their views regarding their care and welfare.



Court proceedings regarding adoptions recorded by camera.
Therefore, if an adopted person gets seriously ill, and would
like to know their family history, they have a right to ask for
court tapes to be unsealed. In Brazil, children aged 12 years
or older can express their feelings about adoption.

Madagascar states that every child who has
reasonable judgement must be informed of
the implications of adoption.



An adoption cannot be granted in South Africa
if the child is aged 10 years or older and has
not given consent. Even if a child is under the
age of 10 that child’s views must be taken into
account if he or she demonstrates the
maturity or capacity to give consent.



As for Georgia, kids from the age of 10 have a
right to refuse getting adopted.

The Minimum
Age of Consent
for Adoption
by Countries

Nurturing a healthy relationship
between parents and children is a
challenge, severed by additional
factors like adoption.

The matter of disclosing the truth to
adopted children has always been
debatable, and remains relevant to
this very day.



Despite parents’ good intentions, they might
be tricked into acting defensively - often on
expense of being genuine.



All relationships are unique, and there’s no
universal recipe for upbringing.
Nevertheless, one can’t deny that our origin
is inseparable from our identity - which, in
fact, is an essential part of our wellbeing.

Authors:

Gvantsa Nadibaidze

Ana Hakobyan

Tiko Zurabishvili

Design:

Dato Msakhuradze

Web-developer:

Tamuna Kapanadze

Sophiko Pkhikidze