Council of Europe weighs same-sex adoption
Council of Europe weighs same-sex adoption
Washington, May. 2, 2008 (C-fam.org/CWNews.com) - A committee connected to the Council of Europe next week will consider signing the European Convention on the Adoption of Children which would allow for the adoption of children by homosexuals, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reports.
The drafters of the convention claim that the convention currently in force is outdated "due to social and legal changes which have occurred in Europe since the late 1960s," writes Maciej Golubiewski in C-Fam's Friday Fax. Specifically, the drafters of the report say the new convention is necessary because of pressures from countries such as Sweden that have recently allowed homosexual couples to adopt children.
The convention that is to be replaced was drafted in 1967 and has been ratified by nearly a half of the member states of the Council of Europe permits adoption only "by two persons married to each other…or by one person." Article 7 of the new convention, on the other hand, allows adoption "by two persons of different sex who are married to each other, or … have entered into a registered partnership together; [or] by one person." The new convention also contains a special clause that allows member states "to extend the scope of this convention to same-sex couples…; [and] different-sex couples and same-sex couples who are living together in a stable relationship."
The Committee of Ministers will also consider disallowing member states to express reservations to the controversial aspects of the new convention. This would eliminate the ability of more traditional countries, like Poland, to ignore these new and controversial policies.
Isabel Hillestad of the Institute for Family Policies in Norway believes that "such radical views do not represent what the majority of Europeans think…and will put further pressure on all other countries to accept [same-sex marriage], first in Europe, later in the rest of the world." Hillestad expressed dismay that a convention which should guard the interest of a child to have a stable family would allow adoption by unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples. She says in Norway "the risk for break-up is 2-3 times higher for cohabiting couples." She also pointed out that registered homosexual couples have much higher break-up rate than married heterosexual couples in Norway.
Pat Fagan of the US-based Family Research Council has shown through social science data that remains consistent through out the world that children thrive best in a stable environment with both a mother and a father, an environment that two men or two women cannot provide by definition. Fagan further argues that children have a human right to the married love of their parents.
If signed by the Committee of Ministers, the new convention will replace the original convention of 1967, and will be sent to the parliaments of the member states of the Council of Europe for ratification. It will become binding law only in countries that ratify it.
The Council of Europe is distinct from the bodies around the European Union; it is larger with 47 member states and also older. The Council of Europe is considered the chief protector and promoter of human rights in Europe.