Unfair clause removed
'Law was in violation of the right to have a family life'
A landmark judgment has led to the law governing adoptions to be changed, doing away with the need for couples to have been married for at least three years before being able to adopt children.
The law stipulated that couples had to be married for at least three years before they could adopt but such a condition did not apply to singles and cohabiting couples. Last October, Mr Justice Giannino Caruana Demajo, sitting in the constitutional court, deemed this clause to be discriminatory and the provision was removed last month. The offending clause referred to those "who have been married for a period of not less than three years and are living together". The wording now speaks of people "who have been married to each other and living together".
The amendment to the law came into force last month after it was published in the Government Gazette on February 9. The change was mentioned by Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano last week while speaking at a conference about families and the law courts.
It all started when Ruth Debono Sultana and her husband Silvio Debono filed a constitutional application against the Department for Standards in Social Protection and the Social Policy Minister arguing that the law was in violation of their right to have a family life.
The couple had lived together for five years but could not get married as they were awaiting the annulment of Mr Debono's first marriage. However, once married, they found they were unable to adopt children because the law stipulated they had to be married for at least five years. The law was changed in 2009 and the time-frame was reduced to three years.
The law had to be amended again following Mr Justice Caruana Demajo's ruling.