Last Friday, parliament unanimously approved the final text of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees to extend the adoption age of children to 18 years.
This text was the result of work in the specialty, which brought together bills submitted by the parties of the Left Bloc (BE), the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP), the People-Animais-Natureza Party (PAN), the Liberal Initiative (IL) and Livre, aiming to raise the age to 18 years to which a child can be adopted, which has been 15 years.
In general, the different parties drew attention to the fact that the age limit of 15 years leaves children between 16 and 18 in a “limbo” because they are not adoptable, but also not of age, referring to an institutionalization scenario.
In addition, Portuguese law considers the adoption of children between the ages of 15 and 18 only in cases where they are “children of the adopter’s spouse or entrusted to the adopters before the age of 15” and are not financially independent.
As for the 15-year restriction, this could lead to sibling separation, if at the time of adoption, for example, one was 15 years old and the other was 16 years old.
Source: DN
