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Parliamentary Assemby of the Council of Europe: END FORCED ADOPTION IN EUROPE
Jonathan R.
started this petition to
Parliamentary Assemby of the Council of Europe
The petitioners call on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to adopt the Draft Resolution of the Report of the Committee on Social Affairs, Health & Sustainable Development.
http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/News-View-EN.asp?newsid=5397&lang=2&cat=133
Summary
Children have the right to be protected from all types of violence, abuse and neglect. But children also have the right not to be separated from their parents against their will, except when the competent authorities determine that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In the absence of a child being judged to be at risk or imminent risk of suffering serious harm, in particular physical, sexual or psychological abuse, it is not enough to show that a child could be placed in a more beneficial environment for his upbringing to remove a child from his or her parents and even less to sever family ties completely.
Children’s rights are violated both by unwarranted decisions taken in member States to remove them from (or not to return them to) parental care, and by unwarranted decisions taken in member States not to remove them from (or to return them too early to) parental care. Member States should thus put into place laws, regulations and procedures which truly put the best interest of the child first in removal, placement and reunification decisions. The competent Council of Europe body should develop policy guidelines for member States on how to avoid practices deemed abusive in this context, i.e. (except in exceptional circumstances) severing family ties completely, removing children from parental care at birth, basing placement decisions on the effluxion of time, and having recourse to adoptions without parental consent.
http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/News/News-View-EN.asp?newsid=5397&lang=2&cat=133
Summary
Children have the right to be protected from all types of violence, abuse and neglect. But children also have the right not to be separated from their parents against their will, except when the competent authorities determine that such separation is necessary for the best interests of the child. In the absence of a child being judged to be at risk or imminent risk of suffering serious harm, in particular physical, sexual or psychological abuse, it is not enough to show that a child could be placed in a more beneficial environment for his upbringing to remove a child from his or her parents and even less to sever family ties completely.
Children’s rights are violated both by unwarranted decisions taken in member States to remove them from (or not to return them to) parental care, and by unwarranted decisions taken in member States not to remove them from (or to return them too early to) parental care. Member States should thus put into place laws, regulations and procedures which truly put the best interest of the child first in removal, placement and reunification decisions. The competent Council of Europe body should develop policy guidelines for member States on how to avoid practices deemed abusive in this context, i.e. (except in exceptional circumstances) severing family ties completely, removing children from parental care at birth, basing placement decisions on the effluxion of time, and having recourse to adoptions without parental consent.
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