The Italian court in the city of Lecce, despite the Ukrainian moratorium, allowed foreigners to adopt an evacuated child from Ukraine.
This was reported by Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.
Ukraine has a moratorium on intercountry adoptions to protect evacuated or forcibly displaced children. It also wants to protect children whose parents have disappeared or are at war.
However, an Italian court allowed the adoption of a child who was evacuated to the country in 2022. The childʼs father disappeared while defending Ukraine in the war, and the mother was deprived of parental rights. In addition, her sisters are already in Ukraine. Also, the childʼs Ukrainian legal representatives were removed from custody and foreign guardians were appointed — this preceded the courtʼs decision.
The Ombudsman appealed to the relevant services and called for the Italian court to appeal the decision and return the child to Ukraine. In Italy, Lubinetsʼs advisor Oles Horodetsky is monitoring this.
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