Parliament will discuss on Thursday the possibility of extending the adoption of children up to the age of 18, among other changes to the adoption process, taking into account bills from almost all opposition parties.
Bloco de Esquerda, Partido Communista, PAN, Livre and Iniciativa Liberal are introducing bills to raise the age at which a child can be adopted to 18, currently 15.
BE recalls in its draft law that the age limit imposed by the law is “essentially based on the anachronistic and inhumane idea that if the child is over 15 years old, it will be more difficult to establish ties similar to parentage. This means that from the legislature’s point of view, a child over the age of 15 cannot love, bond and create, and therefore ‘does not deserve’ to be adopted and start a family”.
“On the other hand, the law assumes that no citizen is available to adopt a child over the age of 15, which cannot be accepted,” the party says.
It also adds that this “restriction” has left children between the ages of 16 and 18 who were placed for adoption in “little limbs” as they are not adoptable but have not yet reached legal age, “thereby condemning them to institutionalization”.
The Communist Party, on the other hand, points out that in the eyes of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as Portuguese law, all persons under the age of 18 are considered children.
He points out that the adoption law only provides for an exception, which allows the adoption of minors up to the age of 18 if they are not financially independent and if they are “children of the adopter’s spouse” or “have been previously entrusted to the adopters”. the age of 15″. .
“This situation discriminates against children, young people who have the right to be adopted and who are prevented by law from being so are sentenced from the age of 15 to institutionalization of the child,” the PCP criticizes.
He also points out that the current law only allows two brothers to be separated if at the time of adoption one is 15 years old and the other is 16. “There are known cases where this has happened,” the party guarantees.
The intention to raise the age of the child that can be adopted to 18 is accompanied by the PAN, arguing that the current legal framework “results in a clear injustice”, that “children aged 16 and over are incomprehensibly discriminates and punishes” and 17 years”.
For IL, 30 years after setting 15 as the maximum age of the child that can be adopted, it is time to reflect on the rationale for this option and “adapt the law to a contemporary view of family law, which the rights of children and young people, as this legislative option has no scientific support”.
Livre, in turn, cites the 2021 Annual Characterization Report on the Situation of Children and Youth (CASA) which states that “the biggest requirement for the childcare system is to find answers for young people between the ages of 12 and 17”. representing “a weight of 71% of foster care situations”.
The party is also introducing a bill to lower the minimum age of those who can adopt to 25 years, that these people can live in a de facto union and that the child can consent to the adoption from the age of eight and not from 12 year. , as defined by current law.
At the same time, Parliament also discussed another PCP bill, which was even tabled during the previous legislature, so that young people over the age of 18 can, with promotion and protection measures, re-enter the system in cases where they ask to leave and have then sorry. That decision is now irreversible.
The Chega Party, on the other hand, is leading a bill amending the Civil Code, the Legal Regime of the Adoption Process and the Labor Code, with a view to reducing the number of institutionalized children and ensuring a speedy and successful adoption process.
The most recent statistics on adoption in Portugal, compiled by the Social Security Institute and referring to December 31, 2021, represent 226 children in a situation of adoption and 1,419 candidates for adoption, yielding a list of candidates six times larger than the number of children. That year 125 children were adopted.
Source: DN
