El derecho a la identidad versus el sigilo en la adopción: Conflicto normativo en Ecuador.

Abstract

The research project entitled “The Right to Identity Versus Confidentiality in Adoption: A Normative Conflict in Ecuador” analyzes the legal tension between the fundamental right to identity and the principle of confidentiality in adoption processes. The Constitution recognizes the right to identity in Article 66, paragraph 28, and the primacy of children's rights in Article 44, while the Code for Children and Adolescents, in Article 153, establishes as a principle that adopted persons have the right to know their status, origin, personal history, and biological family. However, in practice, the confidentiality of adoption records has generated a conflict: confidentiality, intended to protect the stability of the adoptive family, becomes a barrier when the adopted person reaches the age of majority and seeks access to their biological history. The study contrasts this tension with international standards such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which recognize the right to know one's origins as part of human dignity. Applying the principle of proportionality, it is concluded that absolute confidentiality is disproportionate to the right to truth and identity, proposing a legal protocol of controlled access that harmonizes the protection of the adoptive family with the unrestricted respect for the fundamental rights of the adopted child.