Italian Court Recognises Two Fathers and One Mother for Four-Year-Old Child

An Italian court has issued a final ruling recognising three legal parents for a four-year-old child born in Germany. The decision means the child has two legally recognised fathers and one mother under Italian law. The boy lives in Germany with two married men.

One is his biological father who conceived the child with a female friend of the couple. The other man, who holds Italian and German citizenship, adopted the child under German law and later sought recognition of that adoption in Italy. Local authorities initially rejected the application.

They cited suspicions that the child had been born through surrogacy, which is outlawed by the Italian government. A court of appeal in southern Italy overturned that rejection after determining there were no surrogacy arrangements involved. The ruling, which cannot be appealed, aligns Italy's position with Germany's on the child's parentage.

It was issued in January but became public on Tuesday as Italy observed the tenth anniversary of parliament's vote to legalise same-sex partnerships.

A Catholic group that campaigns for traditional family values condemned the decision. The group said legal recognition of same-sex unions had altered family law and exposed minors to social and ideological experimentations. The child's lawyer told Reuters there was no secret surrogacy agreement.

"This is a case of three people who all want to be the parents of this child, and the court recognised this," the lawyer said.