Children's Religious Identity in Alternative Care and Adoption: The Need to Recentre the Child's Best Interest in International Human Rights Adjudication.

This article examines the treatment of children’s religious identity in alternative care and adoption within international human rights adjudication, focusing on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It critiques the ECtHR’s jurisprudence, particularly the Grand Chamber judgment in Abdi Ibrahim v. Norway (2021), for insufficiently centering the child’s best interests and religious rights, often privileging parental or state interests instead. The article advocates for a child-centred approach that recognizes children as autonomous rights-holders whose cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds must be duly considered in placement decisions, consistent with Article 20(3) of the CRC. It highlights systemic issues, including potential biases against religious minorities, and calls for clearer standards and stronger protections to ensure children’s religious identity and freedom are effectively respected in alternative care and adoption proceedings.