조부모의 손주입양 ―대법원 2021. 12. 23.자 2018스5 전원합의체 결정을 계기로―

The Korean Supreme Court recently ruled that an adoption may be permitted if the grandparent requests the adoption of a grandchild whose biological parents are unable to rear, provided the conditions for adoption are met and the adoption is in the child's best interests. The court considers whether the grandparents have a practical intention to form a life relationship as a parent beyond simple child rearing and whether the main purpose of adoption is to provide stable and permanent nurturing and protection of children as parents. In addition, it is necessary to check whether the birth parents’ consent to adoption is made voluntarily and definitively after receiving sufficient information about child rearing and adoption, in light of the age of the children and grandparents, including the parenting situation up to now, the circumstances leading to the adoption. It is necessary to examine whether it can be expected that a parental relationship can be naturally formed between the two, compare and quantify the matters that are beneficial to the child and the concerns that the adoption of the grandparents are concerned with, and determine whether the adoption is suitable for the child's welfare in individual and specific cases.