A Comparative Study of “International Adoption” in Iranian, French and German Laws

1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes that the states shall act in accordance with the high interests of children. According to this Convention each child has special constitutional rights including right to life, right to name and identity, right to family relationships and the right to communicate with parents, even if separated from them. Today, despite the membership of most of the states in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, there are many similarities and differences between countries as regards the nature of international adoption, the high interests of the child and the competence of the adoptive. In the present research, through using a descriptive-analytic method, by a brief overview on the international adoption in laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran, France and Germany we come to this conclusion that despite the differences as to simple and incomplete adoption, influenced by international rules, these countries to a large extent have enacted similar rules especially in simple adoption. However, with regard to international adoption, despite the prediction of certain rules in French and German law, in Iran's law this institution is faced with the silence of the legislature. It seems that we can admit this institution in accordance with Islamic standards with solution for accepting an adoptive qualified Muslim parent for orphaned Muslim children and an adoptive parent for the orphaned children of the People of the Book in the framework of existing regulations and best interests of the child.