"Children are entitled to be raised as far as possible by their own parents. When this is not possible, national or international adoption is a good option": Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, deputy-secretary general of the Council of Europe, advocates a "Joint Declaration of international adoption", which is also supported by the French MEPs Claire Gibault and Jean-Marie Cavada. The main goal, "however, must always be to protect the superior interests of the child". According to De Boer, "the option of national adoption must be first on the list"; if this is not possible, one must opt for the international procedure, "making sure there is no abuse whatsoever". The CoE dealt with this topic in January, during the meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly. The proponents’ intention was to develop a joint procedure with the 27 EU member states and in the future with the 47 CoE member states. The high officer of CoE explains: "If we limit or suppress the option of international adoption when national adoptions are not feasible, we make children pay the price of the mistakes committed by the adults. And we can’t accept this". (continued)
