ABSTRACT
This chapter considers whether there are any themes emerging from the intersection of adoption law and human rights. It begins with an overview of the varying extent to which those jurisdictions comply with the international framework of relevant human rights treaties, conventions, protocols, etc. in so far as they relate to adoption law. The chapter overviews relevant aspects of the corresponding regulatory frameworks and their respective alignment with international human rights standards. It summarises and compares jurisdictional performance in relation to key human rights indicators at each stage of the adoption process from entry, through determination of an application, to exit and post-adoption information rights. In short, there is no firm pattern which would allow jurisdictional differences to be confidently credited to genesis in a particular legal tradition. The chapter concludes by reflecting on the significance of the findings including a brief review of the extent to which they may be explained by intrinsic differences between common and civil laws.
