Certificato di nascita

The case concerned the placement in social-service care of a
nine-month-old child who had been born in Russia following a
gestational surrogacy contract entered into by a couple; it
subsequently transpired that they had no biological relationship
with the child. The Court found in particular that the
public-policy considerations underlying Italian
authorities’ decisions – finding that the applicants
had attempted to circumvent the prohibition in Italy on
using surrogacy arrangements and the rules governing
international adoption – could not take precedence over the
best interests of the child, in spite of the absence of any biological
relationship and the short period during which the applicants had
cared for him. Reiterating that the removal of a child from the
family setting was an extreme measure that could be justified only in
the event of immediate danger to that child, the Court considered
that, in the present case, the conditions justifying a removal
had not been met.  [Press Release]