Child-Centred Adoption Law

Project period: 2026 - 2029

At the onset of the 20th century, adoption was primarily seen as a means for providing childless couples with descendants and preserving the family legacy. Yet the law no longer takes this parent-centred view; instead, the focus is placed on the child. The present research takes this development as its starting point and works from the premise that this paradigm shift has only partially been completed.

In order to test this hypothesis, the project will first reconstruct the historical development of German adoption law from the child’s perspective. The findings will then be placed in an international context by means of a comparative analysis considering the adoption regimes of England and Wales and also Australia. This should enable a critical reflection on, and further consideration of, the nature and extent of the child-centred approach in German law. The aim of this study is therefore to address the following questions: How have the role and rights of the child in adoption law changed? And what might be the shape of an adoption law regime that more consistently fulfils the promise of the primacy of the child?