This thesis will focus on how the Danish laws from 1923, 1956, and 1972 perceive adopted children and if their rights improved throughout the period. The thesis uses a thematic analysis, to treat the themes that were focused on in the laws. These themes are e.g. the adopted child in society, the roles of the parents in the family, and how international conventions ensure the welfare of the adopted child.
The thesis will do this, by first looking at different definitions of terms used in the laws and the debates thereof, like biological, natural, and adopted. Further with discussion on whether or not the child was a bastard, which was very relevant in 1923. In the first part of the analysis, we thereafter give a historical context on the child, and what their role was in society. This is followed by an analysis of what a good and bad child was. Furthermore we then analyse the options for dissolution of the adoption.
The second part of the analysis will focus on the roles of the parents in the family, and how their roles as providers and caretakers developed throughout the period. This is followed by a conclusion on how society perceived the changes of the roles in the family throughout this period.
The thesis will then in the third part of the analysis, focus on the welfare of the adopted child. This will be done through analysing how subjective the opinion of the childs welfare is. This will be exemplified by observing how different organisations and public authorities perceive the best interest of the child, and legislate about it.
The fourth part of the analysis will discuss the opinions and perceptions of the Danish political parties, and how they express this in the debates of the laws throughout the period. This will be followed by a brief summary and conclusion on the rest of the analysis.
This will be followed by the discussion, which will carry over several points from the analysis. Most importantly the impact of international adoption on danish adoption history over the past 50 years. The first part of the discussion will focus on how a small collection of people started the international adoption system in Denmark. Furthermore how their unstructured organisations and methods, likely was in opposition to the best interest of the child.
The second part of the discussion will focus on the humanitarian aspect of Danish adoption, because it was created from housing and taking care of children affected by the Second World War. It will then focus on how the humanitarian aspect is damaging for the children, and often leads to the adoptee having to overcompensate by swearing off their original culture.
The last part will write about how Denmark has tried to brand themselves as wanting to be the best country to be a child in, but often the government forgets the international adoptees. This will lead to a conclusion about how the Danish government, while they’re writing a new childrens law, should revise the current adoption law.
The conclusion of the thesis will be that adopted children have gained rights through legislation the past hundred years. Furthermore governments, and organisations have bettered childrens welfare in society, nationally, and internationally, therefore childrens best interest is more prominent today than throughout the rest of the period.