Balancing the Right to Know of Adoptees and Privacy of Biological Families: Is the Contact Veto Provision the Way to Go?

The right to know is the core of the right to identity of adoptees, as it allows them to pursue their own biological information. The identity of one`s biological parent – a simple, straightforward information for many – is a significant missing piece in adoptees’ history. Questions such as: who are my biological parents? Where did I come from? Why was I put up for adoption? What is my family's medical history? These inquiries, though seemingly commonplace, underscore the profound impact of the right to know on adoptees' self-identity. While the legal definition of the right to know is still a matter of debate, this right seems to function as a mechanism for exercising the right to one's own identity. By exercising the right to know, the adoptee should be able to collect pertinent data to construct their own identity, which can be significantly compromised in adoption scenarios. The right to identity is a comprehensive and all-encompassing right that ensures individuals have the right to exist and enjoy their rights within society, including the right to have a name and surname, nationality, gender, and date of birth.

Unravelling the complexities, this blog post aims to shed light on the intricate interplay between the right to know of adoptees and the right to privacy of biological families in adoption scenarios, particularly concerning the role of the Australian Contact Veto Provision (CVP) in this context. In this regard, the Australian CVP in New South Wales is especially noteworthy. It is one of the few jurisdictions that enforce legislative measures to prevent adoptees from contacting their birth parents. This type of provision was also previously enacted in Tennessee and subsequently repealed in 2022, rendering it ineffectual due to its shortcomings. In 2001, Ireland attempted to implement a CVP in the Draft scheme of a bill on adoption information and post-adoption contact, which was later removed.