ODIEVRE v. FRANCE - 42326/98

The European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber composed of the following judges:

The Court heard addresses by Mr Mendelsohn, Mr Alabrune and Ms Roy and their replies to the judges' questions.

Paris, 24.5.[deleted] Berthe” The applicant was placed with the Child Welfare Service at the Health and Social Services Department ( Direction de l'action sanitaire et sociale – “the DASS”) and registered on 1 July 1965 under no. 280326 as being in the care of the département of Seine. Subsequently, a full adoption order was made on 10 January 1969 in favour of Mr and Mrs Odièvre, under whose name she is now known. The operative provisions of the Paris tribunal de grande instance 's judgment ordering her adoption read as follows:

The original birth certificate and the birth certificate drawn up pursuant to Article 58 shall at the public prosecutor's behest be endorsed with the word 'adoption' and shall be deemed to be null and void.” In December 1990 the applicant consulted her file as a person formerly in the care of the Children's Welfare Service of the département of Seine and managed to obtain non-identifying information about her natural family:

Detailed explanation of the reasons for the child's admission (if the child has been or may be abandoned, provide full information on such matters as the mother's, and if possible the father's, physical appearance, mental outlook, health, social background and occupation in order to enable the authorities to find the best possible placement)