A government official on Thursday rejected opposition amendments asking that persons eligible to provide foster care should also include formal and informal life partners, which Domagoj Hajdukovic (Social Democrats) called discrimination against same-sex partners wishing to be foster parents.

“The amendments are rejected, the article which you are asking to be amended is not subject to amendment of the Foster Care Act,” Social Welfare Ministry State Secretary Marija Pletikosa said in a comment on amendments put forward by the Green-Left Bloc, the Social Democrats, as well as independent MP Furio Radin, who is part of the parliamentary majority and who put forward a proposal to that effect by Hajdukovic.

“It is our duty as MPs, in line with rulings of the Constitutional Court, to intervene in that legal provision so as to prevent discrimination of some citizens in terms of provision of foster care,” they said.

Hajdukovic admitted that the said article was not subject to legal changes, but noted that it required intervention because “there is evident discrimination against citizens who want to be foster parents and are possibly same-sex life partners.”

We are indirectly telling those people not to apply to provide foster care while children’s homes are full of children, this is discrimination against a part of the population as well as against children who need foster care, Hajdukovic said.

‘No reason why ideological tenets should be more important than children’s welfare’

Hajdukovic was supported by MP Ursa Raukar-Gamulin (Green-Left Bloc), who said that “a large number of children are waiting for foster care, there are not enough foster parents, and there is no reason whatsoever why some ideological tenets should be more important to us than children’s welfare”.

Raukar-Gamulin warned that the law “allows a child abuser to be a foster parent” while same-sex partners are not desirable. That’s is truly a disgrace, she said.

Government representative Pletikosa also rejected a proposal by the Social Democratic Party that the parliament oblige the government to send it within 30 days, in line with a Constitutional Court ruling, changes to the Foster Care Act in such a way to enable same-sex partners and formal and informal life partners to equally participate in all aspects of social life, including foster care.

Constitutional Court didn’t order that law be amended

“The Constitutional Court did not order amendment of the Foster Care Act but determined that competent bodies have the duty to interpret it and apply its provisions in such a way that will enable all persons, under equal conditions, to participate in the provision of foster care, independent of whether a potential foster parent lives in a life or informal life partnership,” said Pletikosa.

SDP MP Sabina Glasovac rejected Pletikosa’s statement as a lie, noting that the Court “only said that at that moment, suspension of three articles of the law would result in a legal vacuum that would have a negative impact on the beneficiaries.”