Estudio social y jurídico del proceso de adopción en la Comunidad Autónoma de Murcia (1987-2007)

Abstract

The doctoral thesis presented aims to investigate the adoption process in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia during the 1987-2007 period. The main source for the study is the analysis of adoption records, from which social aspects are extracted affecting each of the adoption stakeholders: biological family, adoptive family, children and their connections and relationships with each other, with the public administration and civil servants. In addition to a thorough review regarding the concept and other theoretical aspects of adoption, the study looks at international, national and regional legislative developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, which has gone through various stages culminating with the definition of the principle and legal basis of the best interest of the child. This theoretical/legal analysis is combined with the empirical analysis of sources used, whose eminently qualitative character has allowed us to concentrate existing quantitative data in the documentation of records with other sources such as press clippings and oral interviews. These testimonies make it possible to delve into a social study of the biological family, adoptive family, children and civil servants. We can elucidate two major trends: a growing role of children reflected in the priority given to their welfare, connected with a continuous effort to decrease institutionalisation in favour of pre-adoptive placement and ultimate adoption. The huge differences between biological and adoptive families make this approach and "open adoption" difficult to carry out without impinging on the identity problems that must be preserved. Second, we are witnessing a growing strength of the theory of affection and attachment and the resulting need for strengthening children’s bonding with their foster parents, trying to keep the unity between siblings. The relationship between law, family and the social system brings us to the complex and ongoing debate on the creation of new families. The extensive literature on this subject has so far greatly stressed children’s psychological, identity and integration problems. However, the situation as a whole (summed up in the children, biological families, foster families/institutions triad) allows highlighting the child's interest, the strength of emotional and cultural ties as well as new concepts of kinship. These considerations have become the backbone of this social and legal analysis, leading to a specific proposal to improve the description and administrative/filing organisation system while contributing to advancing our knowledge of one of the most pressing issues regarding paternity and motherhood in today's society