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THE Balearic Adoptions Association (AIBA) has given its backing to the adoption of minors by homosexual couples under the new law approved by Congress on Thursday, according to its president, Ramon Rotger. He said that in order to adopt, all that is needed is a certificate of suitability, and the sexual option of the family does not matter.
He said that the association received a lot of requests for information from homosexual couples every year and five or six couples start the adoption process. However, up to now, adoption by homosexuals has only been possible as a single parent, not as a couple. This situation will change radically under the new legislation. The certificate of suitability is an indispensable requisite for any family wanting to adopt a child and has been since the Hague Convention of 1986.
In the Balearics, it is awarded by S'Institut (the Institute of Social Services), and consists of compiling the maximum amount of information on the would be adoptive parents, usually by interviews, to guarantee that the minor is being adopted by suitable parents. Many people go abroad to adopt, and international adoptions rose by 71.31 per cent last year.
Rotger said that there were 5'541 international adoptions in Spain last year, most of the children coming from China, Russia, the Ukraine, Colombia and Ethiopia. AIBA was founded in 1997 and has 325 members, roughly 50 per cent of the parents who have adopted children here.
Its chief functions are to advise in the adoption process and provide psychological back-up for adopting families. It receives six to seven consultations a day.