Adopção internacional: desafios na protecção da criança em Moçambique

Abstract

This Final Course Project (TFC), entitled International Adoption: Challenges in Child Protection in Mozambique, examines the legal perspectives applicable within the Mozambican legal system and the challenges related to the effective implementation of international adoption. The study identifies both procedural and substantive challenges inherent in international adoption, through an analysis of the existing legal and institutional framework. Adoption is addressed as a child protection measure that establishes legal family ties and is primarily guided by the principle of the best interests of the child, ensuring the child’s integration into an adequate family environment conducive to their development and the enjoyment of legally protected rights. Although there have been notable normative advances, particularly with the enactment of the Family Law (Law No. 22/2019 of 11 December), the Mozambican legal framework continues to reveal significant shortcomings in the regulation and implementation of international adoption. These include insufficient monitoring of adopted children, weak oversight mechanisms to prevent irregular adoptions, institutional deficiencies, and limitations in child protection and control systems. The above-described scenario highlights the urgent need for the ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, aiming at the implementation of structural and meaningful measures, including institutional strengthening, enhancement of the intervention of Social Action Services, and adoption of effective monitoring mechanisms, with a view to ensuring that the principles of comprehensive protection and the best interests of the child are fully respected, especially in international adoption processes