In an important decision late last week, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday, March 21 that single individuals can adopt children from abroad. In doing so, they overturned a law passed in 1983, which restricted these adoptions to married couples. The decision brings Italy in line with other major European nations, including Britain, France, Germany, and Spain, which already extend the right to adopt to single people. The case was brought by Raffaella Brogi, herself a magistrate originally from Siena.
The timing of this ruling is not insignificant. It comes amid a general decline in the number of international adoptions in Italy annually. The first half of 2024 saw a 5.6% drop compared with the first half of 2023, and an enormous 14.3% drop when compared with that same period in 2022. Many have hailed the court’s decision as an important step forward in recognizing a more diverse range of family structures. Paola Limonta, president of the Italian Association for Aid to Children, has emphasised the need to update Italy’s adoption laws, to best reflect changes in social and familial values, while the League party, part of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s governing coalition, has called for current laws to now be amended in light of the ruling and what they described as a “worrying decline in international adoptions.”
The Constitutional Court concluded that the 1983 law fails to acknowledge that “single people are theoretically able to provide a child with a stable and harmonious environment”. Similarly, the CIAI stated, “the primary interest to be protected is that of the child”, and the court’s ruling asserts this as the foremost concern. Under Italian adoption laws, the final decision on whether an individual is fit to adopt a child rests with a judge, and this remains unchanged – however, where previously only married couples were eligible for such an assessment, this right now extends to single people as well. (Sultan Khokhar)
