Italian court recognizes family with three parents as legal

An Italian court recognizes family with three parents as legal. Photo: AI-generated

On May 12, 2026, the Court of Appeals of the Italian city of Bari published a decision obligating the state to recognize as legal the presence of three parents for one child, reports LifeSiteNews.

This concerns the recognition of an adoption act previously formalized in Germany, where a four-year-old boy is legally assigned to his biological mother, biological father, and the latter's "husband." This verdict became the first of its kind in Italy's legal practice.

The story began in Frankfurt in December 2021, when a child was born to a longtime female friend of a same-sex male couple living in Germany. Initially, the boy was registered to his biological parents, but at the end of 2022, a Berlin court allowed the father's "partner" to adopt the child.

When the men attempted to legalize this status in Italy, local authorities in Apulia refused. Officials argued this with suspicions of "hidden surrogacy," which is officially prohibited by Italian and German legislation.

However, the appellate court judges rejected the officials' arguments, citing reports from German social services. The court decision stated that the biological mother voluntarily agreed to the adoption and maintains regular contact with the male couple, and the child lives in an atmosphere of "tranquility."

The plaintiffs' attorney Pasca Manfredi stated that this verdict provides protection for "new forms of co-parenting" that allegedly do not contradict the child's interests.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that in Italy, lawyers advise migrants to pose as gays to obtain asylum.

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