Abstract
<jats:p>Adoption by persons of homosexual orientation is a current, but at the same time controversial topic. The European Court of Human Rights has, through its case law, confirmed the freedom of states to regulate this issue independently, subject to the prohibition of discriminatory treatment. In the Republic of Croatia, life (same-sex) partners do not have the possibility of jointly adopting a child, with additional confusion arising from a decision of the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia in 2022. Therefore, this paper aims to present the issue of adoption by persons of homosexual orientation with special reference to the (im)possibility of adoption by life partners in the Republic of Croatia, and to present the legal implications of the decision of the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia from 2022. With the aforementioned decision, and considering the complexity of this topic, international treaties related to adoption, national Croatian family and anti-discrimination legislation, and recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights are also analysed. Since the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia also decided on the possibility of adoption by same-sex partners in the same year, its significance is analysed as an example of the legal regulation of this issue.</jats:p>