After Malta’s historical legal recognition of civil unions in 2014—which granted complete adoption rights to same-sex couples—the Russian Federation stopped collaboration with Maltese adoption agencies, effectively halting the adoption by potential Maltese parents of Russian-born kids. Minister for Social Policy and Children’s Rights, Michael Falzon, presented Parliament on Monday this development.
In response to several parliamentary interrogations on international adoptions, Minister Falzon noted that Maltese couples desiring to start or grow their families had once found adoptions from Russia to be a good route. The passage of civil union legislation in Malta, giving same-sex couples equal parental rights, on the other hand, prompted a diplomatic and procedural Russian government change.
Citing its national policies and long history of opposing same-sex parenting, Russia quickly stopped all adoption agreements with Maltese nationals. T
he Maltese government made a plan to try to save the accord, under which adoption requests might be reviewed to guarantee that children were put with straight couples. Nevertheless, Falzon verified that no solution was reached and Russian adoptions have been suspended still.
Malta was set as a modern European country in terms of LGBTQ+ rights by the original 2014 law, therefore marking a turning point for the nation. The legislation marked a big leap forward for equality by acknowledging civil unions and giving full legal parity with marriage—that is, including adoption rights. Malta became the 15th European country and the 25th globally to do so in 2017 when it formally legalized same-sex marriage, therefore the pace kept on going.
Still, the more general effects of these changes have sometimes crossed borders. The ending of Russian adoptions offers an example of the occasionally difficult link between national sovereignty over family law and international diplomatic developments.
Though human rights activists have lauded Maltese laws, the ongoing suspension of Russian-Maltese adoptions has created a gap for some would-be parents—and therefore for children who might otherwise have been placed overseas.
