Ethical documents
Ethical Guide
The Rights of the Child in Internal and Intercountry Adoption - Ethical Principles - Guidelines for Practice, ISS/IRC, 1999/2004
This ISS document defines the ethics and principles that should govern adoption, a fundamental decision in the life of several human beings, among them a child in a vulnerable position. Although the principles are conceived as a frame of reference, ISS/IRC considers it important to supplement them with a number of guidelines to ensure that the ethics and principles are respected in practice. They are the product of exchange of views with professionals from all over the world. They reflect and complement the principles enshrined in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1993 Hague Convention on the protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption.
Also available in English, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Bulgarian and Albanian
The child's right to grow up in a family
Guidelines for practice in national and intercountry adoption and foster family care, ICSW / Swedish ICSW / Adoption Centre Sweden /ISS, 1997
Update of the 1982 Brighton guidelines, prepared in consultation with a wide international network of professionals and approved at the ICSW world conference in Hong Kong in 1996.
Also available in English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Albanian
UN Guidelines for the Appropriate Use and Conditions of Alternative Care for Children
The UN guidelines seek to ensure that, firstly, children do not find themselves in out-of-home care unnecessarily and, secondly, that the type and quality of out-of-home care provided is appropriate to the rights and specific needs of the child concerned. These guidelines were co-drafted by ISS and were officially welcomed by the UN General Assembly end of 2009.
To read the guidelines in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic or Russian, click here.