Reflections on the Child Born with Unknown Parents and the Adoption Institution

• Author: Gabriela Lupsan
• Position: Associate Professor, PhD, 'Danubius' University of Galati, Romania
• Pages: 66-70

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives 2014

66

Reflections on the Child Born with

Unknown Parents and the Adoption Institution

Gabriela Lupşan

1

Abstract: After reading statistics from the adoption domain we have d iscovered that, in the recent years, the

number of abandoned children in health care facilities has increased, therefore two questions arise: do the

changes in adoption favor adopting a child born of unknown parents?; is there a link between the

abandonment of children subsequently registered as born from unknown parents and adoption? In this

material we will answer to these questions, b ased on the reality of figures and the interpretation of the

legislation in the field.

Keywords: abandoned baby; birth registration; unknown parents; adoption

1. Argumentation

Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection and Elderly Persons site announced having posted on

the site2 the Resolution Project on the National Strategy for the Protection and Promotion of Child

Rights (2014-20120) and the Operational Plan for its implementation for the period 2014-2015.

Within the strategy on page 24, at the category of “vulnerable children” there are mentioned also the

“children abandoned in hospitals.” Although it is mentioned within the strategy that the number of

children abandoned in hospitals has decreased in the last 10 years four times, for 2010-2012, it was

found that their number increased by 12 %, so the total of 1474 children abandoned in 2012 in the

medical units, the increased number of 918 cases were recorded in maternity.3

These facts, interpreted in the light of the principle of the superior interest of the child, which governs

the entire legislation on children's rights matter, led to the amendment of Law no. 273/2004 on the

procedure of adoption and Law no. 272/2004 on the protection and promotion of children's rights4, and

the emergence of Order no. 359/2012 regarding the criteria for registration and declaration of the

newborn.5 Also, recently, it has been approved G.E.O. no. 11/2014 on adopting measures to reorganize

at the level of central and public administration and amending and supplementing certain legal acts6,

according to which it is established the National Authority for Child Protection and Adoption, as a

specialized body of the central public administration, under the Ministry of Labor, family, social

Protection and the Elderly Persons, by taking the activity in the domain of protection of child‟s right

from the Ministry of Labor and from the field of adoptions from the Romanian Office for Adoptions.

1 Associate Professor, PhD, “Danubius” University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Boulevard, 800 654 Galati,

Romania, Tel.: +40.372.361.102, Fax: +40.372.361.290, Corresponding author: gabriela.lupsan@univ-danubius.ro.

2 http://www.mmuncii.ro/j33/index.php/ro/transparenta/proiecte-in-dezbatere/3172-2014-02-03-proiecthg-strategiecopii.

3 In 2009, 1400 children were abandoned in hospitals, in 2010 a total o f 1315 children, and in 2011 a total of 1432 children

were abandoned in medical units.

4 It is Law no. 257/2013, published in the Official Monitor of Romania no. 607 of 30 September 2013.

5 Published in the Official Monitor of Romania no. 237 of April 9, 2012.

6 Published in the Official Monitor of Romania, Part I, no. 203 of 21 March 2014.