Adoption's need for a "Villainous Other": folklore, fictions, and Northern Ireland's jurisliteratures of redress

Certain legal concepts relevant to adoption (such as “legitimate”birth status, relatedness, and the sanctity of family life) seem prone to beinginfluenced by society’s lingering fears of a villainous Other. This figure mayappear as abandoned child or harmful parent, or indeed as some facelessauthority figure or nonhuman actor tasked with decision-making. The systemsthemselves can be deemed wicked and villainous in the sense that they canbecome immune to reform: churches, governments and judiciaries can perpetuate some of the darkest folkloric traditions of adoption or abandonment.Decision-makers may inhabit shadowy margins, illegally falsifying or redactingbirth records, enforcing vetoes on information or contact, and silencing survivors and victims. This may occur even where redress mechanisms are slowlycoming into being. As with folklore, literary fiction, and dystopian fables, cycles of secrecy, shame, stigma, and inequality are difficult to overcome. Northern Ireland’s current situation merits discussion: its public consultation on the(apparent) need for truth recovery—and redress—for the victims and survivors of mother and baby institutions has recently concluded but has done little to comfort those who seek meaningful law reforms or recognition of rights violations, past or present.