I. GENERAL MEASURES OF APPLICATION AND INFORMATION
(...)
C. Constraints and perspectives
(...)
14. The following activities are in the course of execution or are envisaged:
(...)
(h) Organization of a national seminar on procedures of adoption in Guinea (amendment of national legislation on adoption);
(...)
II. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
(...)
B. The higher interest of the child
25. The higher interest of the child has always been taken into account by the legislator, both in the matter of trusteeship, adoption and separation of the parents (divorce or death). In all codes, it is easy to see that the interest of the child is safeguarded.
(...)
D. Respect for the views of the child
(...)
43. Nevertheless, the legislator has taken account of his opinion through article 393 of the Civil Code:
"With a view to adoption, the future adopting and adopted persons shall present a joint request to the court. They shall be heard in the council room... Without prejudice to the special consent of his natural parents, the minor aged at least 16 years should express his own consent to the judge."
Article 394 stipulates:
"Revocation of the adoption may, if it is justified on very serious grounds, be pronounced by the court at the request of the adopting or adopted persons."
Article 437: "The emancipated minor shall enter into a lease for a duration of not more than 9 years..."
(...)
IV. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
(...)
F. Children deprived of a family environment
80. This heading concerns children who are orphans, children taken in or found. They benefit from special attention for there is within the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and Children, a National Directorate for the Promotion of Children instituted by decree. Within this structure, there is a section responsible for the family placement and adoption of children taken in.
(...)
84. The various structures that follow take care of children in difficulty from 0 to 18 years: the Bonfi orphanage, Belle Vue, the SOS Children's Village, all at Conakry and the Gouécké orphanage at N'Zérékoré, the Guinean Association for Social Reintegration of the Handicapped, the Hostel for Girls and AGFRIS. Budgetary constraints connected with the operation of such centres and the weight of tradition in the matter mean that the State has no centre created by itself. In spite of the efforts made by these centres, regulatory work needs to be undertaken for the moralization of adoption which remains a still recent practice in the country.
G. Adoption
85. This is also one of the measures for the protection of children. Adoption is a form of placement requiring a receptive family environment for the child which must be complemented by protection and appropriate special help by the State. Efforts were made to regulate adoptions in the Republic of Guinea well before the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Guinean Civil Code in its articles 381 to 394 has foreseen provisions for adoption. It provides for perfect adoption and simple adoption.
86. In practice and traditionally, custom allows that a child without a parent be entrusted to a member of the family or a friend of the family. The latter has the responsibility for caring for it as if it were his own child, and providing for its material and social needs. After ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, additional efforts must be made by the State to complete Guinean legislation in the matter especially in the follow-up of adopted children. Our legislation favours transnational adoption. But the policy is that national adoption is the priority and transnational adoption is only done in the higher interest of the child by the competent services.
(...)
J. Periodic review of placement
89. There has been no law, decree or order fixing the periodicity of the placement. But in practice, the National Directorate for the Promotion of Children makes unscheduled domiciliary visits to the families with which partnership has been established. Registers are created for this purpose for the identification of the children and families that give moral guarantees by undertaking to care for the children taken in as good family fathers and mothers. Proofs of identity are required to benefit from placement. After a period for observation and social inquiry which may last from 3 to 6 months, a decision is taken by the territorially competent court whether or not to entrust guardianship of the child to the family requesting it. In any case, a name must be given to the child. The procedure terminates with simple or perfect adoption before the courts. A copy of every adoption decision is filed in the individual child's dossier kept at the Directorate for the Promotion of Children.
(...)
VII. HEALTH AND WELFARE
(...)
D. Social security and child care services
1. Social security
(...)
222. On adoption, article 389 of the Civil Code specifies that adoption of a minor requires the prior consent of its natural parents or at least one of them if the other is unable to express his will. In the case of orphans, a family council gives a ruling which is decisive.