NationStates Jolt Archive

Rights of Adoptee's Parents

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Category: Human Rights

Strength: Mild

Description:
NOTING that some pregnancies are not on purpose, and may result in unwanted children.

OBSERVING that unwanted children tend to be abused, beaten, and otherwise deprived of a good life.

NOTING that adoption is a method of removing said unwanted children, which does not involve killing the baby before birth, a process which has created a large debate.

NOTING FURTHER that in some areas, when a parent gives their child up for adoption, they are not allowed to keep their identities secret from the adoptee, allowing him or her to track down the parent later on. The parent many times would like to forget about the child as much as possible, and pursue a "normal" life.

OBSERVING that this may deter some parents from giving their children up for adoption.

MANDATING:

1) That all parents who give their children up for adoption be given the choice to hide their identities from their child. They may also choose to have their names given, but have them be given with a request not to seek the parents. For couples, if one person wants to keep him/herself secret, they may do so without consent of the other person.

2) That this choice is not to be affected by the government in ways including notices promoting one of the choices and prosecution for choosing one of the choices.

3) That no person is to breach the privacy, should the parents decide to keep their identities secret, with the sole exception of the person whose identity is being kept secret


----------------------------------------------
Questions? Comments? (Constructive) Critisism?

OOC: Interesting. Possibly too domestically orientated though. To be honest, I'm not sure of how appropriate this is. I'll speak to my friend who was adopted.

Without the recognition of the need for mandatory medical histories, the People's Republic of Bolshikstan could not endorse such a proposal. It would be irresponsible and cruel to put the lives of these children at risk without giving the adoptive parents the knowledge they need to protect their new children from any disease born of heredity.

William Jacoby
General-Secretary of the Supreme Bolshik
Bolshikstan, The East Pacific.

Rights of Adoptee's Parents

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Category: Human Rights

Strength: Mild

I would advise increasing the strength of the proposal. This isn't something that is mild. And nor should it be.

Description:
NOTING that some pregnancies are not on purpose, and may result in unwanted children.

OBSERVING that unwanted children tend to be abused, beaten, and otherwise deprived of a good life.

NOTING that adoption is a method of removing said unwanted children, which does not involve killing the baby before birth, a process which has created a large debate.

Please change "which does not involve killing the baby before birth, a process which has created a large debate" to "which allows for a method people may prefer over abortion" for this. It simply sounds better.

NOTING FURTHER that in some areas, when a parent gives their child up for adoption, they are not allowed to keep their identities secret from the adoptee, allowing him or her to track down the parent later on. The parent many times would like to forget about the child as much as possible, and pursue a "normal" life.

OBSERVING that this may deter some parents from giving their children up for adoption.

Hrm. I'm not so sure I like this one, as it potentially leads to the rights of the adopted being trampled on. However, see my comments for the next section.

MANDATING:

1) That all parents who give their children up for adoption be given the choice to hide their identities from their child. They may also choose to have their names given, but have them be given with a request not to seek the parents. For couples, if one person wants to keep him/herself secret, they may do so without consent of the other person.

You handled the issue of rights in the way I was going to advise. Good.

2) That this choice is not to be affected by the government in ways including notices promoting one of the choices and prosecution for choosing one of the choices.

Actually, I believe this should be changed. How about mandating that the governments in question must inform the parents giving up children of all their choices in the matter and may not pressure the couple into a decision?

3) That no person is to breach the privacy, should the parents decide to keep their identities secret, with the sole exception of the person whose identity is being kept secret

Hrm. There should be an exception to this. Add in that all correct medical history must be given to the adopting parents, with the names removed. Of course, the medical information must indicate relationship to the adopted child. This way, the children being adopted can know what diseases they have inheritted.

----------------------------------------------
Questions? Comments? (Constructive) Critisism?

Comments, suggestions, and criticisms are included with the appropriate sections.

Rights of Adoptee's Parents

A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.

Category: Human Rights

Strength: Significant

Description:
NOTING that some pregnancies are not on purpose, and may result in unwanted children.

OBSERVING that unwanted children tend to be abused, beaten, and otherwise deprived of a good life.

NOTING that adoption is a method of removing said unwanted children, which some people may prefer over abortion.

NOTING FURTHER that in some areas, when a parent gives their child up for adoption, they are not allowed to keep their identities secret from the adoptee, allowing him or her to track down the parent later on. The parent many times would like to forget about the child as much as possible, and pursue a "normal" life.

OBSERVING that this may deter some parents from giving their children up for adoption.

MANDATING:

1) That all parents who give their children up for adoption be given the choice to hide their identities from their child. They may also choose to have their names given, but have them be given with a request not to seek the parents. For couples, if one person wants to keep him/herself secret, they may do so without consent of the other person.

2) Parents must be informed that they have these choices.

3) That this choice is not to be affected by the government in ways including notices promoting one of the choices and prosecution for choosing one of the choices.

4) That no person is to breach the privacy, should the parents decide to keep their identities secret, with the sole exception of the person whose identity is being kept secret.

5) Medical history of the parents must be provided when they give their child up for adoption. Names must be removed from these documents should the parents decide to hide their identities.

5) Medical history of the parents must be provided when they give their child up for adoption. Names must be removed from these documents should the parents decide to hide their identities.
I can't see this added section as going far enough. Many genetic diseases and disorders do not manifest themselves until later in life. It is very feasible that a biological parent could be perfectly healthy at 20 and have terminal-stage cancer by 30. It would be impossible to know that the child would be at risk from examining the parent's medical records at the time of birth.

But to be honest, this issue doesn't have any tangible effects on international politics, and I really can't see this as being a particularly severe human rights problem. This is probably a matter best left to individual nations.

On the first part, that is true. I might edit it at some point. However, wheather or not it is a matter of international importance is not up to you. some people say that abortion is or isn't. It's a matter of how strong you think the UN should be.

We agree that this issue is very important to address, and we are quite glad that it has been brought up for discussion.

However, we do not agree with the original proposal, for the rights of the adoptee seem to be ignored. As the adoptee has absolutely no initial say in the matter of both birth and adoption, we feel that they most certainly have the right to seek out their parentage for whatever reason. The parents, of course, could deny a meeting if they so choose; any person retains that right, no matter the situation. Still, there is no doubt that the adoptee should know their family history.

This logic is especially sound when one considers the medical issues that could arise, as many other nations have pointed out. Without parental identity, there is no guarantee that the adoptee will be informed of any new developments or latent problems.

We also believe that this is not a matter to be addressed by the United Nations. National Sovereignty, the right for each nation to decide how to best handle this, is most important in this scenario. We believe this, mainly, because other nations are not effected by an opposing decision from another nation.

For example, let us say that we outlaw this practice, and say another nation adheres to it. If an adoptee and/or their biological parent(s) move from their country to our country, there is no way for us to expose the biological parent(s) to their offspring. If an adoptee and/or their biological parent(s) move from our country to their country, they will remain unaffected.

Therefore, while Effervia firmly agrees that this is an excellent issue to debate amongst nations, we do feel that a ruling from the United Nations is not at all necessary. Indeed, we believe it would be quite a hindrance and a breach of any nation's sovereignty.