Preparing to meet the biological family
The question of identity, understood as knowledge of one’s past so as to be able to envisage continuity and a perspective for the future, is essential for everyone. It is central to the lives of adoptees who have become adults. Knowledge of dates and places of birth, names at birth, languages, cultures, ethnic and religious origins is crucial in international adoption.
This fundamental right to legal identity is recognized by international texts such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In France, the February 7, 2022 law on child protection takes a similar approach by creating the “France Enfance Protégée” public interest group. Its mission is to analyze requests from adoptees and wards or former wards of the state seeking to trace their origins, and to inform and direct them to the appropriate contacts, depending on their situation.
Beyond the search for origins, the encounter with the history of each adult adoptee often proves to be an emotional whirlwind. As each story is unique, we offer individual olfactory immersion sessions. This plunge into the history, political situation and scent environment of each country takes us back in time, and prepares adult adoptees for a gentle encounter with their biological families and the context that led to their separation.
