AdoptART: Strengthening a Child-centric Perspective in Adoption Research, Policies and Practices

Every child has a unique identity, including her/his birth, name, nationality and family relations, among other elements.

The UNCRC (1989) put the focus on the child’s best interests and the States Parties have an obligation to preserve the child’s identity and promote child participation.

However, the issue of respecting children’s relationships and identities in adoption remains an area of uncertainty and ambivalence in adoption policies and practices. In addition, current adoption procedures do not provide opportunities for children’s meaningful participation. Children are the main stakeholders but, at the same time, the most absent and invisible actors.

In response to this challenge and knowledge gap, AdoptART is a 24-month interdisciplinary, intersectoral and multi-method project which aims to co-create new knowledge and implement innovative strategies and methods that collaboratively involve children and other key stakeholders in adoption research, policies and practices.

AdoptART is a multi-sited research project conducted in two countries: Spain (Europe), a Spanish-speaking country that has recently introduced the figure of open adoption, and Chile (Latin America), a Spanish-speaking country that is considering its introduction.

The project connects my prior research experience in Chile with a two-way transfer with the AFIN Research Group (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) under the supervision of Professor Diana Marre.

By examining the Spanish and Chilean cases, AdoptART aims to formulate policy guidelines for decision-makers and practitioners to strengthen a child-centric perspective in adoption research, policies and practices, in line with global adoption challenges and the European policies on the Rights of the Child.