[Access to personal origins: the new French law]

The French parliament adopted in January 2002 a law on access to the origins of persons who where adopted at birth. The National Council for access to personal origins (CNAOP) was created in order to apply this new law. The law's purpose was to attempt to conciliate the interests of adults who wish to know their origins, those of pregnant women who want to keep their motherhood secret, and those of children who have the right to live in the best conditions, and obtain the best possible chance of having a happy childhood. In short, the legislator attempted to find a balance between situations of extreme suffering. The new law does not impose on the natural mother to communicate her identity, even confidentially. A woman who requests, at the time of delivery, that her admission and her identity be kept secret, is encouraged to leave, on a voluntary basis, information on her health and that of the father, the origins of the child and the circumstances of birth, as well as her identity, in a sealed envelope. In this sealed envelope, she can specify her name, her date and place of birth. On the cover of the envelope are written the first names that she may have chosen for the child, as well as its sex, date, hour and place of birth. This envelope is stored and can be unsealed only by a member of the CNAOP if this organism is solicited by the child when reaching adulthood, or if the child is minor, by his legal representatives or by himself with these representatives' approval. In this case, CNAOP can search for the mother and contact her. She may maintain or waive the secret of her motherhood. Furthermore, the natural mother can at any time waive the secret of her identity, in the event that the child solicits the CNAOP, but she does not have the right to search for the child. It will take several years to determine whether the effects of these new dispositions are beneficial or not. One of the keys to this problem is improved management of these women in the departments of obstetrics and gynecology.