In its response to the motion “Right to Adoption. Equal Opportunities for All Families”, the Federal Council of Switzerland declared in a public statement that it considered it “appropriate to permit second-parent adoption for same-sex couples in the best interests of the child”.

The statement continues, “The Federal Council is sympathetic to the request that a child from a previous relationship or a single-parent adoption have the opportunity to be adopted by the parent’s registered partner. While many children already grow up in these types of constellations, they do not enjoy the same level of legal protection as children adopted by married couples. Second-parent adoption by same-sex couples would put children in registered partnerships on an equal legal footing with those in marriages.”
While this is great news and a major step forward for us, there are two caveats:

First, the Federal Council’s statement sends a powerful signal to parliament – but it’s still up to the legislature to agree and create the statutory basis for its implementation.

Second, the statement meets us only halfway: “The Federal Council continues, however, to oppose the unrestricted access to joint adoption for same-sex couples.” Its contention is that the widespread acceptance of the registered partnership law (adopted by public vote in 2005, in force since 2007) was in large part due to the fact that it “eliminated discrimination of gays and lesbians without, at the same time, providing registered partners access to adoption or reproductive medicine”.

While we are very happy about what could very well turn out to be a milestone in our struggle for equal legal protection for our children, we are still a long way from achieving our ultimate goal of full equality before the law.

Contact: info@regenbogenfamilien.ch
Maria von Känel Scheibling (vice president), tel. +41 79 611 06 71