The absence of a specific provision regarding the right to adoption in the European Convention on Human Rights has not prevented a catalogue of case law developing out of Strasbourg.  This article explores whether it is now possible to discern a right to adoption and what its nature might be, seeking to make sense of the convoluted decisions in this field.  Recent decisions have shown that it is no longer accurate to describe claims regarding adoption laws to be inadmissible ratione materiae; rather, there is a growing trend to examine such cases on their individual merits.  The key decisions of Fretté v France and E.B. v France, which concern the relevance of the right to respect for family life (article 8, ECHR) to applications for those hoping to adopt, are reviewed through the prism of the decision-making process in Strasbourg, and the potential effects this may have had on the issue of adoption rights is analysed.  The status of those seeking to assert such rights are also examined, against the background of discrimination jurisprudence and the right to respect for family life.