Legal adoption as a revealing indicator of the evolution of the family in Quebec

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Reference

Ouellette F-R, Lavallée C. (2017). L’adoption légale comme révélateur de l’évolution de la famille au Québec. Droit et cultures, 73(1), 49-68.

Abstract

This paper connects the evolution of adoption in Quebec to the broader social and normative context of family change. It underlines the effects of adoption on the adopted child’s previous family ties. It more specifically highlights the peculiarities of family adoptions, which are largely unknown. Three periods are distinguished. The first (1924-1960) is characterized by the exclusion of illegitimate and adopted children from the legitimate family order. The second (1960-1980) period marks the transition to an egalitarian nuclear family model and the granting of similar rights to adopted and legitimate children. The third one (1980 until now) establishes a strictly egalitarian legal paradigm that provides all children with equal rights towards their parents and other relatives. It excludes any form of plural kinship. Adoption thus becomes substitutive at all time.

DOI