THE CHILD’S RIGHT TO KNOW ITS ORIGIN IN THE CONTEXT OF NEW FORMS OF FAMILY

This article studies the effects that the introduction of new family formations has had on children’s rights, specifically the child’s right to know its origin. In order to provide for a systematic and comprehensive answer to the question of whether the child can exercise its right to know its origin in the context of new family formations, the author will start off by making a brief overview of the development of the rights of the child. Following that, the question of how and when the right of the child to know its origin was initially recognized as a universal right granted to all children will be answered. The analysis will further on deal with the specific challenges to which the child is subjected to in the context of new forms of family, primarily in cases of adoption, and subsequently, in cases of families created with the help of MAR procedures. As a result, an outline of the existing and possible approaches towards this issue will be showcased in order to summarize the emerging trends related to the child’s right to know its origin.