Adoption in Italy: Requirements, Procedure, and Adult Adoption

Two different forms of adoption in Italy

Italian law holds several institutions Ukrainians tend to lump together as "adoption," though legally they differ, with different consequences. The best known is adozione di minori, adoption of a child, which fully severs the legal bond with the biological family and creates a new, lifelong status: the child becomes the adopters' child in every sense, including inheritance and surname. This form can be domestic or international, when the child comes from another country and the procedure runs through an authorised body and a state commission.

Alongside it is adozione in casi particolari — adoption in special cases, which applies, in particular, when one partner wants to adopt the other's child from a previous relationship. The consequences are milder: the child's bond with the biological parent who is not the adopter is not fully severed, and the procedure follows a different path, though it also goes through the Tribunale per i Minorenni.

The third institution stands apart — adozione di persone maggiori di età, adoption of an adult. This is not family placement for a child but a civil-law instrument through which one adult formalises a bond with another for passing on a surname, future inheritance, or recognising an existing, often long-standing, family-like relationship. Knowing which institution applies before you start matters, since the wrong choice means lost time and starting over.

Requirements for a couple who want to adopt a child

To adopt a child, Italian law sets requirements for the prospective parents. The main one is stability of marriage: a child can be adopted by spouses married for a period set by law who are not going through a divorce. The couple must also be capable of supporting, raising, and educating the child, and the age gap between adopters and child must stay within reasonable limits, so the relationship resembles a natural parent-child bond.

As a rule, a single person cannot adopt a minor within "full" adoption: adozione di minori is designed primarily for married couples. Exceptions exist in narrowly defined cases and are worth asking about separately, not relying on general information found online.

What the court checks before granting permission

The Tribunale per i Minorenni — the specialised court for minors' affairs — assesses not only formal criteria but the family's real capacity to welcome a child: housing, income stability, psychological readiness. This is why the procedure includes active involvement of servizi sociali, the social services, who prepare a report on the family before permission is granted and keep supporting the family after the child is placed.

The procedure: the tribunal, decreto di idoneità, servizi sociali

The procedure for adopting a child always begins with an application to the Tribunale per i Minorenni at the couple's residence. The court orders an assessment through the social services — interviews, home visits, an evaluation of readiness. On that basis it issues a decreto di idoneità — a decision on suitability for adoption. This is not the adoption itself: it opens the way either to the domestic procedure, if the child is in Italy, or to the international one, if the family looks abroad.

In the domestic procedure, the tribunal matches the family with a child among those whose adoptability status is already established, and sets a "trial" period of living together under supervision of the social services. Only once it concludes successfully does the court issue a final decision, registered with the ufficio di stato civile.

The role of the decreto di idoneità in the rest of the case

The decreto di idoneità is valid for a limited time, during which the family must actively move the case forward — contacting the authorised body in the international procedure, or waiting for a proposal in the domestic one. If the deadline passes without progress, the assessment must be repeated from scratch, and this is exactly where families most often lose time through inattention to deadlines.

Intercountry adoption and the special case of Ukraine

Intercountry adoption in Italy does not proceed directly, but through an ente autorizzato — a body licensed as intermediary in intercountry adoptions — under supervision of the Commissione per le Adozioni Internazionali, the state commission that oversees the procedure, checks documents from the child's country of origin, and authorises entry into Italy. A family holding a decreto di idoneità applies to a chosen body, which then handles the case in the child's country of origin.

On adopting a child from Ukraine, it must be said honestly: intercountry adoption of children from Ukraine is currently significantly restricted, and it is not a route a reader can simply "start" alone, or even with a lawyer's help. Ukrainian law sets its own conditions and restrictions on adoption of children by foreigners, and because of martial law, procedures involving moving children abroad have become stricter and, in many cases, effectively suspended. Any information about a "quick" adoption of a child from Ukraine found online is likely outdated, and the current state of affairs must be checked separately, under Ukrainian law.

Adopting a partner's child — adozione in casi particolari

A separate case, far more common among Ukrainian families in Italy, is when one spouse wants to adopt the other's child from a previous marriage or relationship. This is adozione in casi particolari: the procedure also goes through the Tribunale per i Minorenni, requires the consent of the biological parent whose rights are partly retained, and an assessment that the adoption serves the child's best interests. Timelines and requirements here differ from "full" adoption.

Adoption of an adult

Adozione di persone maggiori di età is a separate civil-law institution used in Italy not for family placement of children, but mostly to pass on a family surname when there are no other heirs, or to give legal recognition to an existing, often long-standing family-like relationship between two adults. The procedure runs not through the court for minors' affairs, but through the ordinary tribunale at the adopter's residence.

The law requires a substantial age gap in favour of the adopter, fitting the logic of a parent-child bond. The exact gap should be checked for the specific situation, since this is where the court most carefully checks the parties' ages. Consent of both the adopter and the person being adopted is required, and — often a surprise — consent of the adopter's spouse, if married, and of the adopter's own children, if adults. If the person being adopted has living parents, the law also takes their position into account.

Who can file the application

The application is filed by the adopter with the tribunale, with documents about identity and marital status, plus written consents from everyone whose consent is required by law. The court checks whether the adoption genuinely serves the purpose it is designed for, and is not a disguised way of bypassing other procedures, in particular immigration ones.

Effects: surname, inheritance, citizenship, and the limits of what it gives

Adult adoption changes the adopted person's surname — usually added to their own — and gives them the rights of a legal heir with respect to the adopter. These are real legal effects, and exactly why the institution exists and is used.

But full honesty is needed about the limits: the adoption of an adult does not create the same status as the adoption of a child. It does not put the adopted person on the same footing as the adopter's own child in every respect, and, which matters especially for foreigners, it is not, on its own, a route to Italian citizenship or a residence permit. The authorities — the court and, later, the immigration services — scrutinise adult-adoption cases closely whenever circumstances suggest the real purpose is migratory, not family-related: discrepancies in documents, no genuine prior relationship between the parties, a suspiciously quick application for a residence permit right after the adoption. Such cases can be rejected.

What adoption really gives, and what it does not

Adult adoption gives a new surname, the rights of a legal heir, and legal recognition of a family bond that previously existed only in fact. It does not give an automatic right to reside in Italy, and does not replace the ricongiungimento familiare procedure for genuine family reunification. Anyone considering adoption purely as a way to settle residence status should hear this plainly: it is not the right tool, and building a migration strategy on it is risky.

How the firm supports an adoption case

An adoption case — of a child or an adult — is, above all, a case about documents, and that is exactly where things most often go wrong. Certificates issued in Ukraine must be translated and legalised so the tribunal accepts them; we prepare translations and check the apostille before filing, following the approach in our article on document translation and apostille. A mistake in translating a surname or date of birth is not small: the tribunal sends the case back, and the family loses months.

We put together the document package for the application to the Tribunale per i Minorenni, or the ordinary tribunale for an adult-adoption case, matching the form to the family — domestic, international, a partner's child, or an adult relative. Choosing the wrong form at the start is among the costliest mistakes: the court will not fix an application filed under the wrong procedure.

When the case involves proceedings before the Tribunale per i Minorenni, we deliberately work as a pair — lawyer plus advocate: the client describes the family situation in plain language to the lawyer, who translates it into legal categories for the advocate, who represents the case in court and monitors it at every stage. This way no important detail is lost between what the client says and what the court hears.

Separately, we help families with children from Ukraine work out whether adoption applies, given the restrictions of Ukrainian law. For adult adoptions, we check that all required consents have been gathered, and that the case does not look migratory rather than family-related: this check at the start saves families from a refusal that is harder to appeal than to prevent. If the tribunal refuses the case, we prepare an appeal, including, where relevant, to the corte d'appello. To discuss a specific situation, start with a consultation, where we can tell you which form of adoption fits and what to realistically expect for timelines.

For families already preparing for citizenship and considering adult adoption as part of family planning, it is worth reading in advance how the residence period is counted — see our article on Italian citizenship after ten years of residence, since adoption does not shorten this period.

Questions we hear most often

Can a single person adopt a child in Italy?

Full adoption of a child (adozione di minori) is designed primarily for married couples; for a single person it is possible only in narrowly defined exceptions set by law, and the tribunal considers each case individually, so there is no general "yes" or "no" without the details.

Can a child from Ukraine be adopted right now?

This is a difficult topic: Ukrainian law sets its own conditions for adoption of children by foreigners, and because of martial law the rules on moving children abroad have become stricter. It is not a procedure that can be started without first checking the current state of Ukrainian law.

Does adopting an adult give the right to reside in Italy?

No, not on its own. It is a civil-law institution for passing on a surname and inheritance rights, not a migration tool, and authorities closely scrutinise cases where the adoption looks like a way to obtain a permit.

How long does a decreto di idoneità last, and what happens if it expires?

The decision on suitability is valid for a limited time; the exact duration should be checked when it is issued. If the case has not moved forward by the end of that period, the assessment must be repeated from scratch — which is why it matters to move the case forward right after the decision is issued.

How does adozione in casi particolari differ from ordinary adoption of a child?

This is a form for special cases, most often adoption of a spouse's child from a previous relationship. The child's bond with the biological parent who is not the adopter is partly preserved, and requirements and procedure differ from full adoption, though the case is still heard by the Tribunale per i Minorenni.

Adoption is one of those matters where the legal form chosen shapes the family's future for decades, so it is worth choosing the right procedure before the first visit to the tribunal, rather than correcting a mistake once the case is already in court.

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