JERUSALEM (JTA) — A bill that would allow Israeli parents to adopt non-Jewish children was sent to the Knesset.
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the bill on Sunday. The measure, which would amend the adoption law, must undergo a preliminary reading in the Knesset and pass two more readings before becoming official.
Under the law now, families wishing to adopt a non-Jewish child must convert the child through the Israeli rabbinate. In order to convert the child, in a special rabbinical court for converting minors, the family must offer proof that they will become religiously observant and raise the child in a religiously observant home. Practically, under the existing law only Orthodox families have been able to convert and adopt non-Jewish children.
Adi Kol of the centrist Yesh Atid party submitted the bill.
