Adoção à brasileira: uma análise das suas causas e consequências à luz de decisões judiciais do Superior Tribunal de Justiça

Abstract

This study examines the facets of adoção à brasileira, analyzing its causes and consequences while highlighting the risks to the right to biological truth and the child's best interests through an analysis of judicial decisions from the Superior Court of Justice (STJ). Initially, it presents a study on the historical, procedural, and principled aspects that underpin adoption in Brazil, providing the necessary context for understanding the topic. The following chapter explores the concept of illegal adoption, its main causes—such as the delays in adoption processes and the lack of knowledge about its procedures—and its potential consequences, including child trafficking and mistreatment. It also discusses the possibility of the crime being committed with noble intentions. To deepen the analysis, the study examines eighteen judicial decisions from the STJ, selected from the period between 2017 and 2024, ten from the Third Panel and eight from the Fourth Panel. The decisions were categorized based on the court's preference for keeping the child institutionalized or with the adoptive family, and the findings were presented through graphical representations. Regarding methodology, the study follows a qualitativequantitative approach with a bibliographic and theoretical character, employing descriptive analysis. Thus, based on the study of STJ jurisprudence on adoção à brasileira and the relevant legislation, it was concluded that all analyzed decisions considered the principle of the child's best interest, regardless of the outcome—whether granting the adoption or institutionalizing the minor—demonstrating the centrality of this principle in judicial deliberations on adoção à brasileira.