Family diversity: legal advances and pending tensions

Colombia is currently facing a period of profound transformation in the legal recognition of new family forms. Although jurisprudence has played a key role in expanding rights for same-sex couples and other non-traditional family models over the past two decades, significant tensions persist.

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The Colombian regulatory framework still presents gaps regarding family diversity. Yadira Elena Alarcón Palacio, director of the family law specialization program at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, warns that the main tension lies in the fact that "the general family law regime of the Civil Code is designed primarily for heterosexual couples, as it was founded on the 19th-century codification."

Although the highest courts have been developing a more inclusive family law system, the lack of regulatory system "continues to create problems with the scope of the applicable regime for diverse families," the expert points out.

Along the same lines, Mario Ernesto García Martínez, general director of Environmental & Mining Lawyers, points out that the biggest conflict is not only legal, but cultural: "Colombia is a very conservative country that has begun to change, albeit very slowly."

According to him, families—such as LGBTIQ+ families, single-parent families, blended families, and those formed through unconventional reproductive choices— face social rejection from their own family environments to state institutions and public spaces.

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Affiliation as a couple

One of the most complex legal fields today is that of parentage in same-sex couples, especially when assisted reproductive techniques or surrogacy are used .

In this regard, Alarcón Palacio maintains that, although "the civil birth registry already allows for the recording of surnames, regardless of the gender of one parent, the other, or both," the lack of clear regulations regarding parentage using assisted techniques leaves these couples in a legal limbo.

The Constitutional Court has attempted to fill part of this gap. According to the director of the family law specialization program at the Pontifical Xavierian University, it has established certain parameters for surrogacy to be carried out under specific conditions, such as the surrogate mother being over 25 years old, having borne biological children, and having psychological training and informed consent.

However, these types of procedures still generate conflicts such as statelessness, especially when foreign citizens whose countries of origin do not recognize parentage derived from surrogacy are involved.

García also emphasizes this limitation: "The law does not clearly establish specific mechanisms for recognizing non-biological parentage in same-sex couples." Although rulings such as the Constitutional Court's ruling C-683 of 2015 opened the door to joint adoption by these couples, there remains a lack of regulations detailing how to legally address different reproductive scenarios.

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Adoption, jurisprudential achievements

In the field of adoption, Colombia has made significant legal progress. Alarcón indicates that initially there were questions about the suitability of same-sex couples to adopt, but "this was also overcome through legal proceedings." Today, sexual orientation is no longer a legal impediment; instead, the couple's ability to provide adequate economic and social conditions for the child is assessed .

However, in practice, institutional obstacles still arise. García points out that "some entities, such as the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare, have the legal authority to deny adoption permits based on their own guidelines."

This panorama highlights the gap that still exists between jurisprudential progress and the effective implementation of rights. The Constitutional Court has laid solid foundations , but without clear legislative development and coherent institutional will, many of these advances are diluted in the daily routines of public offices and courts.

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