8-year-old Zosia "does not exist" in Poland. Decision of the Supreme Administrative Court regarding a child raised by two mothers

On Wednesday, the Supreme Administrative Court, composed of seven members, considered a legal issue referred to the Provincial Administrative Court in Kraków. The Provincial Administrative Court asked the Supreme Administrative Court whether the provisions of the Law on Civil Status Records allow the transcription of a foreign birth certificate of a child in which persons of the same sex are listed as parents.

It's about Sofia (Zosia), now 8 years old. The girl was born in Spain, the daughter of a Polish mother and an Irish mother. It was in Spain that she was issued a birth certificate and a temporary passport. Women started applying for a transcription of the Spanish birth certificate, i.e. entry into the Polish register, in 2019. At that time, the Polish office refused to provide transcription. The decision was appealed to the administrative court by the Ombudsman.

A multi-year legal battle

In 2019, the Krakow court decided, bound by the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court of the same year (regarding the prohibition of entry into the civil status books of a foreign birth certificate of a child in which persons of the same sex are listed as parents), that it could not resolve the case in favor of the child. He submitted a question to the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg.

The CJEU indicated, among other things, that the Member State of which the child is a citizen is obliged to issue him or her an identity card or passport, without requiring the prior transfer by transcription of the birth certificate. In 2024, the Provincial Administrative Court sent a question to the Supreme Administrative Court on this matter.

How did the NSA justify its decision?

On Wednesday, the Supreme Administrative Court left the case unheard. As judge Arkadiusz Despot-Mładanowicz explained, the first-instance court's question addressed to the Supreme Administrative Court was formulated in an incorrect manner, therefore the Supreme Administrative Court could not respond to it.

According to the representatives of Zosia's mothers - attorney Anna Mazurczak and attorney Paweł Knut - "the court could have issued a substantive ruling, but it simply ran away from it."

Mazurczak emphasized that although according to the court, children can travel on the basis of a birth certificate, in practice this is impossible. She also expressed her disappointment - especially since the same court allowed transcriptions of foreign same-sex marriage certificates.

Since we provide legal protection to adults, we see no reason why the children of these marriages do not have the same legal protection and why they do not have access to Polish birth certificates, she said.

She announced further legal steps - the case will now be returned to the Provincial Administrative Court in Kraków.

I think that we will persuade the court in Krakow not to apply the resolution of the Supreme Administrative Court (of 2019 - PAP) - because it is inconsistent with European Union law, because it violates the right to private and family life of this family and limits their freedom of movement - she explained.

The question was asked to the NSA three years ago

Attorney Knut pointed out that the question from the Krakow Provincial Administrative Court was asked three years ago, so the Supreme Administrative Court had a lot of time to "detect the existence of any formal problem that could prevent the issuance of a decision."

Such action does not build authority for this institution. (...) Not only because the issue of children in same-sex families has been shelved for who knows how many years, but citizens who want to settle their matters in courts are simply not taken seriously, he said.

Deputy Ombudsman Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak pointed out that Sofia's (Zosia) case was brought to the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights almost 7 years ago - just after the girl's first birthday.

Various institutions commented on her case: the Polish embassy, ​​the head of the registry office, the Commissioner for Human Rights, the Provincial Administrative Court twice, the Supreme Administrative Court twice, and even the Court of Justice of the European Union (...), and Zosia is not in Polish civil status records, she said.

Kotula announces further actions

Katarzyna Kotula, the government plenipotentiary for equality, was counting on a positive ruling in the case. In an interview with PAP, she stated that Poland currently discriminates against children raised by same-sex couples, the so-called rainbow families. She emphasized that she would strive to resolve this issue.

After today's verdict, I think that we will analyze it for several weeks and look for solutions to these issues from the government, she emphasized. She added that in the event of disagreement in the government, the Left will strive to introduce marriage equality, which will protect children. I will simply submit such an act, Kotula said.

Okay. 50 thousand children raised in Poland in rainbow families