Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Israeli Ministry Drops Opposition To Same-Sex Adoption

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs has reversed its opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt in the country.

The ministry said in a Supreme Court brief that there is no problem in principle with adoption by a same-sex couple. The brief was filed in response to a petition regarding adoption by same-sex and common-law couples filed against the Social Affairs Ministry and the attorney general by the Association of Israeli Gay Fathers, with the Israel Religious Action Center of the Reform movement.

The reversal came at the request of Welfare Minister Haim Katz, according to the report. In July, Katz had asked the court for an extension on issuing an opinion to re-examine the issue, saying he wanted to seek more professional opinions.

The ministry stressed that the rules regarding such adoptions can only be made by amending existing legislation.

Although adoption by same-sex couples has been legal in Israel since 2008, in practice it has been nearly impossible. Because opposite-sex couples have been given priority, only three same-sex couples have adopted in Israel out of 550 applicants. More than 1,000 opposite-sex couples have adopted in the past nine years.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.