Decree of the Court of Palermo, I Civil Section, 6 April 2015

The Court in Palermo examined a recourse of a woman who had applied for the legal recognition of her parental relationship with the children of another woman, with whom the applicant had lived and shared a family project, then finished. Born thanks to medically assisted procreation, the two minors had regarded the applicant as a second mother since their birth. The biological mother did not give her consent to the maintenance of the existing affective relationship between her ex-partner and the children, however. The Court declared that the applicant had not locus standi, because no parental relationship is recognized under Italian legislation among children and those persons (named “social parents” by the Court) who are not their biological parents nor have adopted them, but have established with them, factually, “significant and lasting family ties”. The Public Prosecutor intervened, however, in the proceeding in the children’s interest, and this made it possible to the Court to decide on the case. Based on the fact that the best interest of the child must prevail in accordance with Articles 7 and 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Article 8 of the ECHR as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights, the Court upheld the application through a dynamic interpretation of the legal concept of parental authority ex Article 377 bis of the civil code.