Adoption: Models, Motives, and Meanings

Project period: 2025-2028

Legal systems that allow adoption thereby enable a legal redefinition of family. Such a process cannot be taken from granted. Looking back through history and around the world, we are confronted with a complex array of attitudes and legal concepts regarding adoption.

The legal evolution of adoption is typically chronicled across two phases: adoption has shifted from being a legal institution serving the private interests of adults in relation to succession to one primarily serving the public welfare of vulnerable children. An initial objective of this international research project is to investigate this narrative by comparing selected legal systems around the world.

A further aim is to clarify the connections between the legal concept of adoption and those of family and kinship. The research project is based on the assumption that the way in which legal systems conceive and practice adoption provides insight into how family and kinship are understood. The aim is not only to analyse the conditions under which adoption is permitted but also to gain a clearer picture as to when adoptions are considered successful or, conversely, problematic. The long-term goal is therefore to clarify the implicit background assumptions that legal systems have about what constitutes a family and to identify the legal concepts on which kinship is based.