Summary:

Under the proposed legislation, parents seeking to adopt a non-Jewish child may no longer have to prove they are leading an observant lifestyle.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.556076

[4 November 2013] - 

Parents adopting non-Jewish children in Israel may no longer have to prove an observant lifestyle as a condition for finalizing the adoption, under a bill approved on Sunday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation. The bill would amend the Adoption Law.

The amendment would give the court approving the adoption the right to prefer “the best interests of the child” over religious considerations in the adoption process.

Under current law, Jewish parents who adopt a non-Jewish child are supposed to convert the child to Judaism through a special rabbinical court under the auspices of the rabbinate. The conversion becomes official only after a probation period set by the rabbinate, and the adoption does not become final until the conversion is completed.

The reason for this is a clause in the Adoption Law requiring an adopted child and his parents to belong to the same religion. In practice, belonging to the Jewish religion is interpreted by the rabbinate as proving that one adheres to a religious lifestyle.

The need to convert the child is thus used as a means of coercing the parents. Parents wishing to convert their children have been told over the years that they must keep kosher, observe Shabbat, affiliate with a synagogue and send the child to a religious educational framework.

Under the new bill, submitted by MK Adi Kol (Yesh Atid), parents will no longer be forced to make lifestyle changes if a court decides that the good of the child does not require a careful examination of the parents’ religious practices.

“Approval of this bill constitutes a meaningful statement by the state that the good of the child is the primary consideration in adoption,” said Kol. “It will remove an obstacle that has kept hundreds of children from finding a warm home in Israel.”

FURTHER INFORMATION:

• Visit CRIN's page on Israel

Previous News release items

• 04/11/2013: Call for contributions: Human rights impact of fiscal and tax policy
• 04/11/2013: UNICEF RFP: Designing a 5 year CP violence prevention campaign framework in Malawi
• 02/11/2013: ALLEMAGNE : premier pays à légaliser un troisième genre
• 01/11/2013: KENYA: Protests over lenient punishment given in gang-rape case
• 01/11/2013: GERMANY: New law allows gender to be left blank on birth certificate

Organisation Contact Details:

Haaretz.com

Last updated 05/11/2013 12:12:57

Please note that these reports are hosted by CRIN as a resource for Child Rights campaigners, researchers and other interested parties. Unless otherwise stated, they are not the work of CRIN and their inclusion in our database does not necessarily signify endorsement or agreement with their content by CRIN.