Poland cracks down on loophole that let LGBT+ people adopt children

Same-sex couples are currently not allowed to adopt under Polish law – however, some couples were able to get around the discriminatory policy by getting one partner to adopt as a single person. The Law and Justice party, which has made its opposition to LGBT+ rights a cornerstone of its governance, has announced that it will amend the law to ensure that no same-sex couples can adopt children. “We are preparing a change where (…) people living in cohabitation with a person of the same sex could not adopt a child, so a homosexual couple will not be able to adopt a child,” deputy justice minister Michal Wojcik said, according to Reuters. Under the new law, adoption agencies will be forced to pay “special attention” to single applicants to ensure they are not securely in a same-sex relationship. Wojcik defended the legal change, claiming that it is being introduced to protect children. “It’s about a child’s safety, about its wellbeing,” he said.