Planned bill would allow in-family adoption rights for same-sex couples
Aim of proposed legislation is to boost legal position of child
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Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) has launched preparations aimed at allowing for "in-family adoption" for children growing up in households based on same-sex partnerships.
A bill on the matter is expected to be ready next spring.
The change is included in an overall reform of adoption legislation, which is being planned at the ministry of Justice.
A new law on fertility treatment came into effect in September this year, allowing all women access to fertility treatment, and not just those with a male partner.
The law currently allows same-sex partners to acquire children through public medical services, but a child born in such a manner, and that child's second, "social" parent are not at present considered related in the eyes of the law.
Under present law, a child does not have inheritance rights to the registered partner of his or her biological parent, and in case of a family breakup, there is no provision for visitation rights.
The aim of the proposed reform is to strengthen a child's legal position in families involving registered same-sex partnerships.
Under the proposal, in-family adoption should be restricted to registered partnerships, because internal adoption rights for heterosexual couples are also restricted to those who are legally married.
There are no plans for establishing a right for same-sex couples to adopt a child from outside the family.
The ministry memo also calls for restrictions on so-called independent adoptions from abroad.
Such adoption are used for the purpose of circumventing the criteria for getting an adoptive child, in situations in which couples wanting to adopt are too old to do so through official channels under Finnish law. The memo notes that interest in independent adoptions is on the increase.
The proposal to allow in-family adoption for couples of the same gender is likely to raise a fair amount of debate in Parliament, but the measure is likely to pass, based on opinions previously expressed by the current MPs.
Before the Parliamentary elections earlier this year, candidates were asked by the Helsingin Sanomat candidate selection engine on their views on the issue of adoption by same sex couples. The answers indicate that 122 of the 200 who were elected would allow in-family adoption by gay partners, and that 57 of them would be willing to permit such couples to adopt from outside the family.
There were opponents to such a measure in all parties except the Greens.
More than 60 MPs oppose the expansion of adoption rights. Many of them feel that a nuclear family with parents of different genders is the only acceptable family model.
The views are not carved in stone. Some of the respondents to the selection engine questionnaire said that they will not make a final decision on how to vote until the situation is at hand.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 29.11.2007 - TODAY |
 Planned bill would allow in-family adoption rights for same-sex couples |
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