The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to allow same-sex married couples to jointly adopt children that neither spouse is related to.
The amendments to the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第七四八號解釋施行法), which officially legalized same-sex marriage on May 19, 2019, seek to allow for the adoption of children who are not biologically related to the couple.
Since it was enacted, many LGBTQ advocates have sought to amend Article 20, which states that when one party to the union “adopts the genetic child of the other party,” the provisions concerning adoption in the Civil Code would apply.
Photo: CNA
In practice, the wording has excluded those in same-sex marriages from adopting children who are not biologically related to them.
Last year, lawmakers from all four parties in the legislature proposed amendments to the article, and after interparty negotiations, passed a final version of the revisions.
The updated version of Article 20 removes the “genetic child” language, stating that the Civil Code adoption provisions apply when one party to the union “adopts the child of the party, or where the couple jointly adopt a child.”
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said that she was “overjoyed” at the law’s passage, which would allow same-sex couples to build “complete” families.
In the past, same-sex couples had to jump through a complex set of legal hoops to adopt a child, such as by divorcing, then having one party adopt a child, and then remarrying and raising the child together, Chien said.
Even then, the other party in the marriage could not formally adopt the child, since the child was not genetically related to their partner, she said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that with the amendments’ passage, it would begin allowing same-sex couples to adopt “based on the current standard procedures.”
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