A couple in Milan asked to adopt an adult together. She told the court she felt close to both of them and wanted them both to be her legal parents. The couple said they’d helped raise her. The obstacle was a line in Italy’s Civil Code that made joint adult adoption an option for married couples alone.

Italy’s Constitutional Court struck down that restriction for partners in Italy’s same-sex civil unions. In a ruling deposited on 12 November, the judges said the two partners could seek to adopt the same adult. The justices ruled on the Civil Code. The couple’s application was a separate matter for the Milan court.

Adult adoption can give legal recognition to a family relationship built over years, the judges said. In the Milan case, the couple had also made a fallback request for just one partner to adopt. Had that been their only option, the law could have recognised one of the woman’s two relationships and left the other without an adoptive tie.

The court also deposited a separate decision that day on whether civil partners can jointly apply to adopt a child from abroad. It ruled the challenge inadmissible and left changes to those rules to Parliament.