The initiation of the adoption process requires first and foremost knowing if the child in question is likely to benefit from this kind of measure. Adoptability is not just a legal concept. It involves various elements: social, psychological, medical and legal.
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Determining adoptability establishes the fact that the child is legally adoptable.
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It establishes the fact that the child needs an adoptive family because he cannot be cared for or reintegrated in his family of origin.
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It establishes that the child is both emotionally and medically capable of benefiting from adoption. Due to their previous experiences, some children may not yet have the capacity/the wish to forge an attachment with an adoptive family or they display serious limitations in adapting to a new family environment. Nonetheless, the great majority of children are ready to reap the benefits of a permanent family environment.
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Some children, because they display more difficult characteristics (physical or mental, psychological traumas, illness, etc.), will need an adoptive family environment that offers special features that make their physical, emotional or psychic recovery possible. It is important to endeavour not to discriminate against these children and to do the utmost to provide them with the benefits of adoption.
©International Social Services and International Reference Centre for the Rights of the Child Deprived of their Family (ISS/IRC)
