In the draft amended Law on Adoption, currently being developed by the Ministry of Justice, conditions for eligible adoptees are being tightened, encompassing both age and circumstances.
Under the current Law on Adoption, children under 16 years old can be adopted. Individuals aged 16 to under 18 years old can be adopted in specific situations, such as being adopted by a stepfather, stepmother, aunt, uncle, or other direct relatives.
The new draft law introduces additional conditions regarding a child's family and social circumstances. Accordingly, children eligible for adoption must fall into one of the following categories: orphans of both parents, abandoned, or without parental care as defined by children's law.
The drafting agency states that these additional conditions aim to ensure that only children truly unable to receive care within their birth family environment are eligible for adoption. The goal is to prevent children from being unnecessarily separated from their parents and family, while also safeguarding a child's right to live with their birth parents, in accordance with the principles of children's law.
Rather than immediately seeking alternative families for children, the drafting agency believes it is important to prioritize protecting a child's right to live within their birth family before considering adoption as a solution.
The draft also adds specific regulations concerning the age gap between adoptive parents and adoptees. The current law only requires adoptive parents to be at least 20 years older than the adoptee. Beyond this minimum, the law currently sets no maximum age limit.
The draft law maintains the requirement that adoptive parents must be at least 20 years older than the adoptee, but also adds a maximum age difference of 50 years. In special cases, this gap may be larger if the adoption is determined to be in the child's best interest. For couples adopting together, the age difference is calculated based on the younger of the two adoptive parents.
According to the drafting agency, this new regulation aims to limit excessively large age differences between adoptive parents and children. A significant age gap can lead to considerable psychological and physiological differences, impacting the child's care, education, and development into adulthood.
Additionally, limiting the age range helps ensure that adoptive parents are capable of caring for, raising, and educating the child until adulthood. Given the limited number of children needing adoption and the increasing demand from prospective adoptive parents, the drafting agency emphasizes the need for stricter criteria to select the most suitable families for children.
The draft law also introduces new categories of individuals disqualified from adopting. Under current regulations, individuals whose parental rights over a minor child are restricted, those serving prison sentences, or those with unexpunged criminal records for certain crimes involving harm to persons and children are ineligible to adopt.
The draft retains these provisions while adding a new group of disqualified individuals: those who have received suspended sentences and are still on probation for crimes against human life, health, dignity, or honor; domestic violence offenses; or crimes against marriage and family laws.
The drafting agency explains that while individuals on suspended sentences are not incarcerated, they remain subject to legal management and supervision. In such cases, a child's interests could be compromised if the adoptive parent cannot provide a suitable living environment, moral guidance, and care.
A report summarizing the implementation of the Law on Adoption since 2010 indicates that many localities face challenges in verifying adoptive parent qualifications, assessing the true purpose of adoption, and identifying suitable cases for children to be adopted.
Furthermore, international recommendations for child protection increasingly demand rigorous assessment of adoptive parents, ensuring all decisions related to children prioritize the child's best interests.
Based on these considerations, the draft amended Law on Adoption adopts a more cautious approach, simultaneously tightening conditions for adoptive parents and narrowing the scope of children eligible for adoption. The new law will enhance the responsibility of state agencies in verifying and evaluating conditions, ensuring the most appropriate environment for a child's long-term development.
The amended Law on Adoption is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly for feedback late this year.
Son Ha
