A Croatian court has ruled that same-sex couples in civil partnerships may apply to become adoptive parents, and must be treated the same as different-sex married couples during the assessment process. The country’s LGBTQ family group calls it an “historic verdict.”
Mladena Kožica and Ive Šegote applied to become foster parents in 2016. Although they passed all the required tests, they were rejected because they were a same-sex couple. Same-sex couples cannot marry in Croatia, but may enter into “life partnerships”—and the one area where same-sex partnerships were unequal to marriage was in fostering and adoption. The couple appealed to the Family Ministry, were again rejected, and then sued. In December 2019 they won their case to become foster parents. Separately, in January 2020, the Croatia Constitutional Court decided that same-sex couples have the right to be foster parents. The men began fostering two children last fall.
Last Wednesday, the Administrative Court in Zagreb ruled that the couple should not be discriminated against in the adoption process. “We are very happy because of this verdict, not only because of Mladen and Ivo, but also because of all the other couples who are considering adoption and who want to expand their family in that way,” said Daniel Martinovi?, president of the country’s Rainbow Family Association, in a press statement (translated by Google Translate).
While this is progress, there is still much work ahead until LGBTQ families have full equality. The Rainbow Family Association noted, “We are still witnessing discrimination, for example in medical assisted reproduction procedures or in the recognition of Croatian citizenship to children of LGBTI parents born outside Croatia, so that our struggle does not end.”
Croatian LGBTQ families seem up to the challenge. The active Rainbow Family Association is not only doing advocacy work, but also helping to create more inclusive education and offering resources like free, downloadable stories and coloring books (in Croatian and English) that depict families with same-sex parents.
Congratulations to Kožica and Šegote and to all of the other children and families who will benefit from the new ruling!
