Keywords: Second-parent Adoption; Same-sex Parenting; Best Interest of the Child; Family; Constitutionally Oriented Interpretation.
Although having introduced a new regulation of same-sex unions, Italian law 76/2016 renounces to regulate adoptions by same-sex couples. However, this issue is of the utmost relevance when it comes to judicial decisions, especially because judges are significantly inclined to allow same-sex adoptions through a broad interpretation of art. 44, sub-sec. 1-d of Law 184/1983. This case law based approach, developed during the legislative procedure that led to the enactment of Law 76/2016 and consolidated thereafter, appears to be absolutely compliant with national constitutional principles, while it does not seem to be against the overall wording of the new law.