Adopţia reglementată de legislaţia altor state
The Adoption Legal Regime in Different Countries

Summary/Abstract: The adoption legal regime in different countries. National legislations throughout the world develop different approaches to adoption. These differences are determined by family traditions, religious conceptions, history, and social and political background. For instance, there are countries requiring that the race or/and religion of the adoptive parents be the same with those of the adopted child. Yet, the law fulness of such restrictions has been recently strongly questioned. As a legal measure to protect the abandoned children, the adoption has a quite recent tradition in Europe. While the legislation of the child-oriented adoption had been introduced in the U.S.A. in the middle of the 19th century, some of these laws were adopted by European countries no sooner than decennials later. For example, the first law in Sweden – Swedish Adoption Act – was adopted in 1917, but it was only in 1959 that the child became lawful member of the adoptive family. In Germany, more precisely in the Federal Republic of Germany, the modern adoption laws were adopted only in 1977. It is highly important to study the way in which the legislation of foreign countries - both those of the U.E. and others - approaches the institution of adoption. A very important step was taken once with joining the Convention of Hague, which imposed a legislative attitude to be followed by the signing countries. A special situation occurs in some countries where international adoption can only be applied to disabled children or several siblings, due to the small number of adoptable children in their native country. While some countries charge the adoptive families with an adoption fee, sometimes very high, others only require the payment of the notary expenses, along with the lawyers` and translators` fees. In some countries, adoption is enforced by court order (Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine, Tunisia), in others it is regulated by contract (China, Ethiopia, Austria), or by administrative act (Vietnam, Guatemala, Hungary); not to mention the special case of Bulgaria, where not long before, children used to be adopted by direct negotiation between the adoptive family and the mangers of foster homes). As for the child’s consent to adoption, it is to be mentioned that the minimum age to take it into account ranges from 12 years old (The Netherlands, Denmark), to 14 years old (Germany), or is considered in case the child is able to account for the effects of adoption (Czech Republic), whereas in Italy, even the opinion of a child under 12 years old is considered, depending on his/her mental development.

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