Italy’s Constitutional Court on Friday ruled that single people can adopt children from abroad – a right previously reserved to married couples alone under Italian law.
“The exclusion of single people from the international adoption of minors is unconstitutional,” the court said in a press release summing up the ruling.
The legal case revolved around a 2019 request by a single woman in Florence to legally adopt a child.
Though the original request was denied by a Tuscan court under a 1983 law, the case was forwarded to Italy’s Constitutional Court, which was asked to determine whether the woman’s rights were being violated.
The Rome court found that the law “disproportionately restricted” the rights of aspiring parents who sought to adopt a child in need of a home.
The court said that the desire to become a parent “falls within the freedom of self-determination of the person and must be taken into account, together with the multiple and primary interests of the minor”.
Single people are “suitable to ensure a stable and harmonious environment for a child,” it said.
It added that, as is the case with married couples, it is up to a judge “to ascertain in concrete terms the emotional suitability of the aspiring parent and his or her ability to educate, instruct and maintain the child”.
That “may also take into account the family network of reference of the aspiring parent”.
Alessandro Zan, from the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), described the ruling as “a historic turning point”.
“Meloni and her government must recognise once and for all that what matters is love, not marital status,” he said.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won the 2022 general election on a campaign stressing the importance traditional family values.
“Let’s go further now. This right must also be extended to couples of the same sex. Enough discrimination. Enough prejudice,” Zan said.
Experts said the ruling may now be used by single people seeking legal recourse to adopt children within Italy too.
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