Responsibility for disclosing the secret of adoption: international legal standards and national legislation of Ukraine
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Protection of childhood, ensuring the comprehensive normal physical, intellectual, psychological and social development of children is one of the main directions of the internal state policy of each state. In modern conditions, the institution of adoption (adoption) acquires, along with national, international status. Therefore, the rules and requirements for adoption are established both at the level of domestic legislation and at the level of international regulatory legal acts. The purpose of this article will be to establish the compliance of the norms of Ukrainian legislation in the field of ensuring the secrecy of adoption with international standards in this area of regulation. In the legislation of Ukraine, the secrecy of adoption is regulated by a number of regulatory legal acts. Adoption in Ukraine, in addition to the norms of national legislation, is regulated by international documents, the consent to the binding nature of which has been granted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. A similar practice regarding the protection of information about adoption is observed in foreign legislation, although the attitude towards the disclosure of information about adoption in different countries also varies: from a ban to full permission and openness of the adoption process. The ambiguous attitude of the society of different countries to the secrecy of adoption is due, first of all, to the peculiarities of their historical and social development. The practice of applying a particular institution is of great importance, which determines the development of effective mechanisms and increasing their efficiency. The issue of accessibility of information about adoption at the international level can be resolved by including in international legislation the relevant norms of a recommendatory (rather than mandatory) nature. They should provide for the conditions of expediency/impediency, obligation or prohibition of disclosure by adoptive parents or relevant state bodies to the child or other persons of information about adoption: about the origin of the child, about the history of its origin (pedigree), biological parents and other blood relatives of the child, etc. A mandatory condition for the legitimacy of such actions should be compliance with the highest interests of the child, among which personal safety, the right to privacy of personal life and the right to normal development and upbringing in the family can be mentioned. This study does not resolve the problem of responsibility for disclosure of the secrecy of adoption at the level of international legislation. But it is promising in developing universal international standards (rules) regarding information about adoption.
Author: A. S. Kolisnyk
Institution: Cherkasy National University
Language: English
Topic: Family and Matrimonial Law
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4410545293