ZAGREB, February 14, 2020 – MPs of the GLAS opposition party said on Friday they had tabled amendments to the Foster Care Act whereby life and informal partners too would be included in the definition of a foster family.
Referring to a recent Constitutional Court decision that life partners should be able to become foster parents, Anka Mrak Taritaš said the court had pointed out that everyone had the duty, in their everyday activity, to abide by the constitution which, she added, banned discrimination and guaranteed that everyone was equal under the law.
“The Constitutional Court also reminded us that in foster care, it’s not important what kind of union foster parents live in, but that they give their best to the child or adult they foster,” she told reporters.
The court warned us that when the Foster Care Act was moved and adopted, which is in the remit of the government and parliament, neither convincing nor objective arguments were put forward that would justify its restrictiveness, stressing that same-sex partners have the status of a family union and all the rights that entails, Mrak Taritaš said.
“The Constitutional Court reminded us that, regardless of our cultural, religious or any other views of the world, we should have more respect and understanding for one another,” she added.
Health problems, ethnicity, number of siblings make adoption of a large number of children more difficult
Goran Beus Richembergh said more than 1,000 children were growing up in homes instead of foster families. For a large number of them, because of various health problems, ethnicity, mostly Roma, or number of siblings, it is not easy to find foster parents, he added.
We find it necessary to amend the Foster Care Act as soon as possible to include life or informal partners in the definition of a foster family, which would prevent any interpretation of the law at the expense of life partners, the MP said.
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