✅ Right to privacy of adoption

The right to privacy of adoption in Ukraine

Scriabin Alexey Nikolaevich

family lawyer

Our family lawyers are often asked the following questions: How to find out the secret of adoption? In what cases is adoption secret not provided for? At what age does a child have the right to know about the fact of his / her adoption?

On our website advokat-skriabin.com you can familiarize yourself with the topic: “The right to confidentiality of adoption” and, if you have any questions, seek legal advice from our family lawyers and lawyers who will provide you with legal services in family matters.

1. A person has the right to the secrecy of being registered with those wishing to adopt a child, searching for a child for adoption, submitting an application for adoption and its consideration, a court decision on adoption.
2. An adopted child has the right to a secret, including from herself, of the fact of her adoption.
3. A person who has been adopted is entitled, after fourteen years of age, to receive information regarding his or her adoption.
4. In accordance with Art. 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, no one may be subject to interference in his personal and family life, except for the cases provided for by the Constitution of Ukraine.

Keeping the secret of adoption in Ukraine

Part 2 of Art. 301 of the Civil Code stipulates that an individual himself determines his personal life and the possibility of acquainting other persons with him. At the same time, an individual has the right to keep the circumstances of his personal life secret (part 3 of article 301 of the Civil Code).

One of the measures to protect the inviolability of personal and family life, which is guaranteed by Art. 32 of the Constitution of Ukraine, is the preservation of the secrecy of adoption.

The legislation does not clarify the concept of the secret of adoption. Moreover, in the scientific literature, the secret of adoption is considered as:

• the method of limited access to information containing data on the nature and content of information about adoption, the procedure and method for concealing it, as well as the grounds for providing information on adoption, responsibility for its illegal disclosure;
• a set of legally protected information about adoption, the full or partial disclosure of which leads or may lead to the establishment of the fact that the adoptive parents are not the natural (blood) parents of the adopted child.

Considering the above, the secret of adoption consists of information about the identity of the adoptive parent, the adopted child, the time, place and other significant circumstances of the adoption.

The secret is not only the fact of adoption, but also the individual stages of its implementation.

Period of keeping the secret of adoption in Ukraine

The right to the secret of adoption arises for a person wishing to adopt a child from the moment he is registered as a candidate for adoptive parents. At the same time, the right to confidentiality of adoption in a person wishing to adopt a child remains:

• during the entire period of being registered, as well as during the time required to find a child and get to know her. (In accordance with clause 1 of section V of the Procedure for maintaining a data bank about orphans, children deprived of parental care, and the family of potential adoptive parents, guardians, trustees, foster parents, parent-educators, the information contained in the child’s electronic registration card and electronic registration the candidate’s card, in accordance with the regulatory legal acts in the field of information and personal data protection refers to confidential information that needs to be protected.Access to confidential information about orphans, children deprived of parental care, children in difficult life circumstances and persons who want to take a child into their family, have users who have received the right to access, in accordance with the application for registering a user of the Data Bank and granting access rights to its information resources. with the protection of personal data during their processing in the Data Bank in accordance with regulatory legal acts in the field of information and personal data protection);
• during the filing of the application for adoption and its consideration and decision.

Ensuring the secrecy of adoption in Ukraine

In this context, it should be noted that in order to ensure the secrecy of adoption, the law allows the consideration of the case in a closed court session (part 3 of Art. 313 of the Code of Civil Procedure). That is why, in the application for adoption, citizens of Ukraine are recommended to indicate the requirement to ensure the secrecy of adoption. This, in turn, taking into account the provisions of Part 7 of Art. 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure, affects the procedure for the consideration of the case by the court.

It is advisable for judges to decide on the need to ensure the secrecy of adoption at the stage of preparing the case for trial. The decision of this issue determines the determination of the circle of persons whom the court will involve in the consideration of the adoption case, as well as the issue of hearing the case in a closed court session. So, while maintaining the secrecy of adoption, the interested parties participating in the consideration of the case should include:

• representatives of the health care institution or educational institution in which the child is located;
• family members of the applicant.

Otherwise, the stakeholders should be attributed:

• parents (father, mother) of the child who is being adopted;
• her relatives;
• old men;
• persons who have adopted a child who is being adopted into their family.

After the entry into force of the court decision on adoption, both before and after the adopted child reaches the age of majority. That is, the adopted child reaches the age of majority or any other circumstance does not terminate the secret of adoption.

Who has the right to privacy of adoption in Ukraine

The adopted child also has the right to the secret of adoption (part 2 of article 226 of the UK). At the same time, the UK considers the right to secrecy of adoption both from unauthorized persons and from the adopted child.

In scientific circles, the position is expressed that not only the adopted child has the right to the secret of adoption, but also the child who is being adopted. When it comes to the consideration of the adoption case, the child is considered not yet adopted, therefore, at this stage, the law of observance of the secrecy of adoption should be carried out taking into account the interests of the child who is being adopted.

It is also worth noting that, taking into account the provisions of part of Article 226 of the SK, the rule of part 1 does not apply to cases when a child who has reached the age of fourteen is adopted.

The child’s right to know his parents in Ukraine

Part 3 of Art. 226 SK notes that a person who has been adopted has the right, upon reaching 14 years of age, to receive information regarding his adoption.

According to Part 1 of Art. 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the child, as far as possible, the right to know his parents and the right to be cared for.

The aforementioned convention norm clearly defines the child’s right to know his parents “as far as possible”, which, in turn, is the limit of the exercise of such a right. In most cases, this concerns the process of obtaining information about biological parents, that is, the use of all cases available and provided by law.

Taking into account the human right to know about his personality and origin, in Part 3 of Art. 22 of the European Convention on the Adoption of Children states that an adopted child must have access to information available in the competent authorities about its origin. This article provides for the possibility of disclosing information about his parents for an adopted child, even if the biological parents of the child wanted to maintain anonymity during the adoption procedure. It is worth noting that the amount of such information is limited, it can only be available from the competent authority and be open to the child until her majority. At the same time, the rule is flexible enough and does not violate the secret of adoption.

The point is that the adopted child has the right to receive information about his origin from the competent authority, which has retained this information, as provided for by the said Convention, for less than fifty years.

The Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in the Field of Interstate Adoption establishes the obligation of the states parties to keep all information about the origin of the child, in particular, concerning the identity of his parents, and to ensure that the child has access to such information, as far as possible, according to the law of the states parties.

Adoption Information Concept in Ukraine

At the same time, in the national legislation, the phrase “information regarding one’s adoption” remains undisclosed. Therefore, in practice, difficulties arise in the semantic load of information that should be issued to the competent authorities at the request of the person who was adopted.

According to Art. 11 of the Law of Ukraine “On Information” the legislator defines information about an individual as a kind of information.

Information about an individual (personal data) consists of information or a set of information about an individual who is identified or can be specifically identified. Confidential information about an individual includes, in particular, data on his nationality, education, marital status, religious beliefs, health status, as well as address, date and place of birth. At the same time, everyone is provided with free access to information concerning him personally, except in cases provided for by law.

The content of information regarding one’s adoption in the doctrine of family law is disclosed in different ways. In particular, I. G. Korol believes that the child has the right to receive any information regarding his adoption. NA Temnikov defends the opinion that an adopted child has the right to receive information and documents concerning his adoption. A. Melnik believes that the adopted child has the right to know his or her origin, providing information: a) personal data of biological parents and other relatives (surname, name, patronymic, date and place of birth, residence, etc.); b) place and date of your birth; c) their nationality and race; d) biographical data of their biological family; d) the reasons and grounds for their adoption; e) history of related illnesses and disease propensities; f) professional and creative abilities, talents, inclinations inherent in close relatives, and the like.

At the same time, it should be noted that obtaining information about the personal data of biological parents and other relatives may be difficult due to the legislative means of protecting the relevant information.

Refusal of parents from a child in Ukraine

So, according to clause 11 of the Instructions for filling out the application form of parents (mother or father), other relatives or legal representative about the refusal to take the child from the maternity hospital, another health care institution, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated December 17, 2013 No. No. 1095/1239 the information contained in the application is information with limited access and is not subject to disclosure.

According to clause 16 of the Instructions for filling out the form of the act of the health care institution and the internal affairs bodies of Ukraine about the child, whom the parents (mother or father), other relatives or legal representative refused to take from the maternity hospital, another health care institution, approved by order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Ukraine dated December 17, 2013 No. 1095/1239, the information contained in the act is information with limited access and is not subject to disclosure.

Clause 14 of the Instructions for filling out the form of the act of the health care institution and the internal affairs bodies of Ukraine about the child left in the maternity hospital, another health care institution, approved by the order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated December 17, 2013. No. 1095/1239 provides that the information contained in the act is information with limited access and is not subject to disclosure.

A similar provision is contained in and. 18 Instructions for filling out the form of the act of the internal affairs body of Ukraine and the health care institution about the abandoned or found child and his delivery, approved by order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated 17.12.2013 No. 1095/1239. However, in the case when the child was thrown or found, it is difficult to obtain information about the biological parents and the origin of the child.

Family Adoption Secrecy Lawyer in Ukraine

For an effective solution to the case of the right to privacy of adoption, you should contact professional family lawyers.

Family lawyer:

• provide legal advice on family matters;
• will help to determine the best option for solving a family case;
• prepare all the necessary documents;
• accompanies the course of the entire trial.

Our family lawyers will do everything necessary for a quick and high-quality completion of a legal case!

Scriabin Alexey Nikolaevich

family lawyer

Contacting us is a way to save time and money in resolving the issue of the right to privacy of adoption.

If you do not know how to do the right thing to decide the case in your favor – write or call our family lawyers!

The first step on the road to success in resolving an adoption secrecy case is to contact good family lawyers!

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