Israel's High
Court of Justice has granted adoption rights to a lesbian
who lost a case in 1999 to adopt her partner's biological
child.
Israel's High
Court of Justice has granted adoption rights to a lesbian
who lost a case in 1999 to adopt her partner's biological
child.
Ruti and Nicole
Berner-Kadish have dual citizenship to Israel and the
United States, according to the Jerusalem Post.
They were living in California when Ruti gave birth to their
son, Matan, by artificial insemination. Nicole was certified
as Matan's adoptive parent by the state in 1996. The
following year, the family with their second child,
Neveh, returned temporarily to Israel. When they went
to the Interior Ministry to register Nicole as a parent,
their request was refused. Representatives of the
ministry told them Israeli law defined a couple
as consisting of a man and a woman.
Current law
recognizes foreign adoptions, marriages, and divorces as
long as the certification is authentic, according to
the article.
The couple, with
the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, petitioned
the High Court in 1999, to have Nicole registered as Matan's
adoptive mother. The court ruled 2 to 1 that Nicole
should be registered, but the state asked the court to
hold a second hearing before an expanded panel of
justices in hopes of reversing the ruling, the Post
reports. The second hearing took place Sunday.
An attorney
representing the government said that the Knesset, Israel's
parliament, was in the process of passing a law that would
nullify the case, allowing Nicole to adopt the
children. However, the Post reports, High Court
president Dorit Beinisch said the state has the right
to argue against such a law. (The Advocate)
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