Couple prevented from following adoption procedures

A husband and wife have filed a judicial protest, complaining that they are being prevented from continuing a process for child adoption because the Appogg Agency is applying a provision of the law which the Constitutional Court had found to be in breach of human rights and the Constitution.

The protest was filed by Marco and Joanne Cremona against, among others, the Appogg Agency, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Family Affairs.

They explained that when they called at Appogg to start adoption procedures, they were told by its officials that in terms of the law, they could not start such procedures unless they had been married and living together for three years.

However, the Cremonas pointed out that the courts, in another case, had found that this provision of the law violated human rights. That decision had been taken by the Civil Court on October 14, 2008 and confirmed by the Constitutional Court on April 3 last year.

Mr and Mrs Cremona subsequently wrote to the responsible minister asking to be allowed to apply and start adoption procedures. They were allowed to do so, and they completed the first stage this month.

However, Appogg then prevented them from starting the second stage - the human visits stage - again quoting this section of the law.

The Cremonas in their judicial protest said that their case was practically identical to the one decided by the Civil Court and confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The decisions of those courts were about the law itself, not anybody's actions. The courts had declared that this section of the law violated the Constitution and the European Charter of Human Rights.

It therefore made no sense for a law which had been declared to violate human rights to again be applied, as if nothing had happened.

The Cremonas also argued that the prime minister should have applied the decision of the Constitutional Court by removing this inconsistency from Maltese law.