Bari court of appeal confirms legal parenthood of two fathers and biological mother, setting precedent in Italian family law.
An Italian appeals court has for the first time legally recognised a child as having three parents – a biological mother and two fathers – in a ruling that legal experts say could reshape the country’s approach to non-traditional family structures.
The court of appeal in Bari issued the landmark judgment in January, and it has since become final, newspaper Corriere della Sera reports.
Background
The case concerns a four-year-old boy born in Germany to a woman who is a longstanding friend of a same-sex male couple who have been together for more than a decade.
The child was conceived naturally, and at birth was acknowledged by both the biological mother and the biological father, who is married to an Italian-German citizen.
With the agreement of all three adults, the boy was raised by his father and the father’s husband. The husband subsequently applied in Germany to adopt his partner’s son – a procedure permitted under German law for same-sex couples – and the adoption was granted, formally establishing the child’s three-parent family in German law.
Italy
The couple then sought to have the German record transcribed in Italy, at the municipality in Puglia where the Italian-German father is registered on the roll of Italians resident abroad (AIRE).
The local authority refused, on the grounds that the arrangement might conceal a surrogacy arrangement, which is prohibited in Italy.
The case was brought before the Bari court of appeal by the two fathers, represented by lawyer Pasqua Manfredi of the LGBT+ rights association Rete Lenford.
Court case
The court heard evidence, including a report from German social services, confirming that no surrogacy or gestational agreement had taken place – surrogacy is also illegal in Germany.
The report described both men as actively exercising parental responsibility since the child’s birth, and noted that the boy maintained a warm and affectionate relationship with his mother and her other children.
The court ruled that the German adoption was compatible with Italian law, citing the domestic legal instrument of adozione in casi particolari – adoption in special circumstances – which allows additional parental bonds to be recognised without severing existing biological ones.
Landmark ruling
Manfredi welcomed the decision as a significant step forward. “This ruling protects new forms of shared parenthood,” she said, describing it as opening the door to “expanded co-parenting” arrangements distinct from both traditional and same-sex two-parent families, yet in conflict with neither Italian law nor the best interests of the child.
She added that the judgment demonstrated that, where surrogacy is excluded, Italian law does not prohibit a co-parenting agreement among three people.
“A child can have multiple parental figures if this serves their best interests and is based on authentic, transparent relationships free from exploitation,” she said. “We hope this is only the beginning.”
