Adoption is for people who are unable
to have children of their own, one partner in a lesbian couple
at the centre of a recent request by Padua prosecutors to cancel
the name of the non-biological mother from the birth certificate
of their young daughter on grounds of alleged illegitimacy told
ANSA on Wednesday.
"We were lucky enough to have children, conceive them, give
birth to them, look after them," the mother said.
"They were born within a marriage, a relationship that has
lasted 14 years," she added.
The couple have two children, a boy and a girl.
"Our children have always called us 'mum'. We are already a
family like any other. It is a responsibility we have taken on
towards these children, born of two different mothers but who
genetically are siblings," concluded the mother.
On Monday the couple received notification that the local
prosecutor had asked a court to rectify the birth certificate of
the couple's child - registered in August 2017 - through the
cancellation of the name of the non-biological mother and
rectification of the surname attributed to the daughter through
the cancellation of that of the second mother on grounds it
breached Italian law and also recent pronouncements of Italy's
supreme court.
Should the court uphold the request, the non-biological mother
would have to adopt the child in order to have parental rights.
In March the government drew criticism from the opposition and
rights activists after it instructed city mayors to stop
registering both members of a same-sex couple as the parents of
a child via a procedure based on the transcription into Italian
civic registers of the foreign birth certificates of children
conceived via surrogacy, which is illegal in Italy, or assisted
fertility, which is only available to heterosexual couples in
Italy, citing a ruling by the Court of Cassation, Italy's
highest court.
This has led to concern that same-sex parent families will face
multiple practical and legal problems, with only the member of
the couple who is the biological parent of the child registered
as its legal parent.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
