Preparing for Milano

… I’ve been notified that tomorrow, tuesday 29 September, there will be a meeting to decide whether or not the lawyers can even pursue this with the adoption.

The question stands: Does the adoption sever any right I had to be considered italian, even though I was born with italian blood?

As it stands now, no one seems certain… and there don’t seem to be any cases previous to mine of people trying this.

In the European Convention on Nationality of 1997, chapter V, article 14, paragraph 1. Says:

“A State Party shall allow: children having different nationalities acquired automatically at birth to retain this nationalities”.

Paragraph 2 states: “The retention of the nationalities mentioned in paragraph 1 is subject to the relevant provisions of Article 7 of this convention.”

Article 7-Loss of Nationality ex lege

1. A State Party may not provide in its internal law for the loss of nationality ex lege …. Except in the following cases:

g. adoption of a child if the child acquires or possesses the foreign nationality of one or both of the adoptive parents.

So while Italy shall allow me to retain my Italian citizenship acquired automatically at birth, this is subject to article 7’s provision, which states that Italy may provide in its internal law for the loss of nationality if I was adopted and acquired the foreign nationality of the adoptive parents.

The main thrust here seems to be avoiding a child being “stateless”.

From:

http://www.foruminternazionale.org/adozioneminori.htm

“Adoption determines that the minor acquires the status of legitimate son and the citizenship of the adoptive parents.”

“L’adozione determina per il minore l’acquisto dello status di figlio legittimo e della cittadinanza dei genitori adottivi.”

None of this clearly states that I either have or don’t have citizenship. All the sites on italian citizenship mention ways of losing one’s citizenship and they include either voluntary or involuntary means: voluntary being by renunciation and involuntary by several different means, but non mentions adoption directly. The closest is the European Union statement that Italy MAY provide for it as long as I acquire the foreign nationality of the adoptive parents, but the EU also says Italy MAY allow dual nationality. It could be the determiner is “Adoption stipulating/determining that the minor acquires the citizenship of the adoptive parents”.

However, it would seem to complicate matters that the adoption wasn’t done in Italy and therefore isn’t necessarily subjected to Italian law. You might think these things would carry over but they don’t automatically. For an adopted baby to be recognized as adopted to an Italian family, the adoption has to be recognized by a judicial act IN italy. So it’s possible that US law would come into play here and if US law allows heritage citizenship, then perhaps I retain it. But then Italy would still have some say here…..

Anyway, it all get’s tricky and I guess that’s why there are lawyers to sort through it all. But apparently it won’t be straightforward and I will likely have to have them argue the case in front of a judge in order to get this Ok’d. Then there is the matter of proving that I actually am the blood son even if the court decides an adoptee can be accepted as a blood relative.

They decide this tomorrow, so if you happen to remember, keep it in prayer.

So the lawyers have determined… and this concerns documenting my link to my natural mother, that several layers of proof will be needed beyond the document trail I have now. I guess the good thing is that at least as it stands now, there is no legal impediment to an adopted out child having access to his birth citizenship. The only question left now is to conclusively demonstrate to the Italian legal system that I am actually the son of an Italian citizen. However, if that can be shown then i should be cleared to receive my Italian citizenship as well.

Plan A, and the version most likely to succeed, is to have the evidence done in Italy. The evidence they want is: Testimony from my mom: that I am her son, a DNA test, and possibly testimony from other family members in Italy that know both my mom and I and have seen us together.

However, this is basically out of the question as my mom can’t travel away from the house with the health condition my grandmother is in right now. As the full time caretaker, she is basically tied to the house.

So Plan B is to petition the Italian courts to  accept DNA tests done according to legal standards here and accept mom’s testimony before the Consulate General in Los Angeles. If they won’t, then I will be dead in the water until such a time as my mom would be free enough to travel to Italy…. basically when nonna passes on.

Plan C would be to have the link established here in California, but there is no precedent for this and they are not sure the California courts would want to hear such a case concerning parentage for purposes of obtaining a foreign citizenship.

So we are attempting to gauge how best to proceed- plans B or C, since plan A isn’t feasible at this point.

The lawyers have determined that while they can file for a cause of action concerning my link to my birth mom, since it concerns me obtaining foreign citizenship, they may not want to hear it. So they want to do this in Italy instead. However, since the adoption process severs all ties between birth parents and the child, it may be an insuperable obstacle to linking us. I gave the OK for the lawyers there to look into the possibilites, but it may be closed to me. If so, I’ll basically be cut off from citizenship jure sanguinis. I could always move to Italy, live there the requisite amount of years legally and then apply for citizenship, but since getting there legally would be nearly impossible, I’m pretty certain that this would be the end of my hope to go and live there.

There are always going to be ways we can attempt to go around this, but I’ll have to leave that to the Lord and prayer. I don’t want to waste time trying to kick down doors the Lord has closed. So we’ll have to see what is happening with this case in the next few months.

 dave