Parliament discusses raising the maximum age for adoption to 18

Parliament is discussing on Thursday the possibility of extending the adoption of children to 18 years old, among other changes in the adoption process, taking into account the bills of almost all opposition parties.

Bloco de Esquerda (BE), Communist Party (PCP), People-Animals-Natureza Party (PAN), Livre and Iniciativa Liberal (IL) introduce bills to raise the age until which a child can be adopted, which is currently 15 years old . years.

In its bill, the EC recalls that the statutory age limit is “essentially based on the anachronistic and inhumane idea that if a child is over 15 years old, it will be more difficult for him or her to create ties like family. This means that, starting from the legislator’s point of view, a child over 15 cannot love, bond, and form bonds, and therefore “does not deserve” to be adopted and have a family.”

“On the other hand, the law comes from the fact that no citizen can adopt a child over 15, which cannot be accepted,” the party says.

He also adds that this “restriction” means that children between the ages of 16 and 18 who have been assigned an adoption are in “liability” because they cannot be adopted but have not yet reached the age of majority, “sentencing them to placement in special institutions. “.

The Communist Party points out, on the other hand, that from the point of view 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 law on adoption only provides for an exception that allows the adoption of minors under the age of 18 if they are not financially independent and if they are “children of the adopter’s spouse” or have been “entrusted to the adopters before”. age 15″.

“This situation discriminates against children, young people who have the right to be adopted and who the law does not allow to be adopted, sentenced from the age of 15 to the institutionalization of a child,” the PKP criticizes.

He also points out that the current legislation, within the limit, allows the separation of two brothers if at the time of adoption one of them was 15 and the other 16 years old. “There have been cases where this has happened,” the party guarantees.

The intention to raise the age of a child eligible for adoption to 18 is accompanied by PAN’s argument that the current legal framework “results in gross injustice” that “inexplicably discriminates and punishes children as young as 16”. and 17 years old.

For IL, 30 years after setting 15 years as the maximum age for a child that can be adopted, it is time to reflect on the reason for this option and “adapt the law to a modern view of family law that prioritizes the rights of children and young people, as this the legislative option does not find scientific support.

Livre, for his part, cites the 2021 Annual Child and Youth Characteristics (CASA) Report, which states that “the main requirement for the child care system is to find answers for young people aged 12 to 17 years”. which is “the weight of 71% of foster family situations”.

The party is also introducing a bill to lower the minimum age of those who can adopt to 25, that these people can live in a de facto union, and that a child can give his or her consent to an adoption from the age of eight instead of 12, as it defines current law.

At the same time, another PCP bill was also being discussed in parliament, which was even introduced in the previous legislature so that young people over 18 with incentives and protections could re-log in in cases where they are asked to log out and then regret. This decision is not yet reversible.

The Chega Party, on the other hand, is spearheading a bill to amend the Civil Code, the Legal Regime of the Adoption Process, and the Labor Code in order to reduce the number of children placed in institutions and ensure a fast and successful adoption process.

The most recent adoption statistics in Portugal, compiled by the Institute of Social Security and referring to 31 December 2021, are for 226 children in a situation of adoption and 1,419 candidates for adoption, which gives a list of candidates six times larger than the number of children. 125 children were adopted that year.