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Putin's gay adoption ban hurts Spanish families

Alex Dunham
Alex Dunham - [email protected]
Putin's gay adoption ban hurts Spanish families
Photo: Maxim Marmur/AFP

Russia's controversial ban on same-sex marriage adoptions has thwarted proceedings for 128 Spanish families who already had children assigned to them.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to sign into law a bill that bans adoption of children by homosexual couples in Russia is now also affecting dozens of Spanish families who were awaiting nothing more than a signature.

"Spanish adoption dossiers have been scrapped by the Russians since they changed their internal legislation," sources close to Spain's Office of Diplomatic Information told La Vanguardia.

That now leaves Spain, which had been the second biggest adopter of Russian children after the US, with no other choice but to seek a bilateral agreement that will enable the halted agreements to go ahead.

Catalan couples have borne the brunt of this legislative nightmare, having also seen the three other most popular countries for adoptions in the region paralyze all procedures.

An upsurge in adoption requests for Spanish couples in Ethiopia has left the Spanish government with no other choice but to halt all proceedings to avoid the waiting time becoming too long.

In the case of China, Spanish couples looking to adopt have to wait on average six to seven years, with experts predicting it "will get progressively longer".

Civil war in Mali led the Spanish government to discontinue adoption procedures in the African country over a year ago as well. There is hope however that a recent ban on adoptions by foreigners will soon be lifted.

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