Adoption procedure in breach of mother's and her child's right to respect for family life

EUROPE: DISCRIMINATION

European Court of Human Rights, judgment, 20 January 2022, D.M. and N. v. Italy (Application no. 60083/19).

«The case concerned an alleged violation of the right to respect for family life of the applicant, who was also acting on behalf of her daughter, on account of the latter’s subsequent adoption. The Court pointed out that the fact that a child might benefit from being transferred into an environment more conducive to her upbringing did not, per se, justify taking her away from her biological parents. The Court considered that it would have been desirable, before launching a procedure for the adoption of the applicant’s daughter, for the courts to order an expert assessment of the mother’s parental capacities, the child’s psychological functioning and developmental needs, and the mother’s functional capacities for meeting those needs. The Court held that the arguments advanced by the domestic courts to justify the adoption procedure had been insufficient. It noted that no reasons had been given, apart from the time it would have taken for the mother to recover her parental capacities, to explain how such a radical measure as adoption could actually be in the child’s interests. Under Article 46 (binding force and execution of judgments), the Court invited the authorities to promptly reconsider the two applicants’ situation in the light of the present judgment and to envisage arranging for contacts between them, taking account of the child’s situation and her best interests. This was a further finding against Italy of a violation of the right to respect for family life. Indeed, over the last few years, several findings have been made against Italy for breaches of Article 8 concerning fostering and/or adoption procedures or procedures concerning visiting rights.»

Direct link to the judgment (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Accès direct au communiqué de presse (hudoc.echr.coe.int)
Direct link to the press release (hudoc.echr.coe.int)

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