The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) released the official adoption figures for 2025 on Friday. With a mere 3,517 adoptions, this marked the lowest level since Germany’s reunification in 1990—a four percent drop from the previous year. The so-called “non-relative adoption” — the placement of a child with an unrelated couple — totaled only 819 cases, a relatively rare occurrence.
However, a closer look at the data reveals a dynamic largely driven by rainbow families: while traditional adoptions are plunging, stepchild adoptions have surged to a new historical high. In 2010 they accounted for just over half (54 percent) of all cases, but by 2025 they comprised a striking 75 percent of all adoptions in Germany. Three out of four adopted children are thus taken in by the partner of the biological parent.
Destatis identifies the driving force behind this development as stepmothers in same-sex partnerships. In 2025, a total of 1,586 stepmothers adopted the child of their partner. The average age of these children was a mere 1.9 years — a clear indication that these are wanted children born directly into an existing lesbian partnership. In a robust 80 percent of these cases, the involved female couples did not provide any information about a legal father.
Concrete takeaway: these specific stepchild adoptions within lesbian relationships now account for 36 percent of all adoptions in Germany. More than one in three adoptions in the country is the attempt by a queer mother to secure legal equality with her partner for their joint desired child. This share has risen steadily for years: 31 percent in 2023, 34 percent in 2024.
A statistical distortion caused by discriminatory law
This statistic reflects the legal discrimination faced by same-sex couples: if a woman has a child, her wife relies on stepchild adoption, while a husband can automatically be recognized as the legal father, even if he is not the child’s biological father. Despite the introduction of marriage for all about nine years ago, lawmakers have not yet eradicated this discrimination. It can have serious consequences for the child: if the biological mother dies in an accident, the child is legally orphaned — and could be removed from the grieving widow by the child welfare services.
Black-Red even contemplated further entrenching discrimination against lesbian parents: in 2020 the then coalition planned to compel lesbian parents to mandatory counseling, while heterosexual parents would not face such a mandate. Studies consistently show that children in rainbow families are not worse off than those in traditional heterosexual families. At least: the Federal Council rejected this discriminatory rule (TheColu.mn reported).
Even today, Black-Red remains committed to this discrimination, though Federal Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig (SPD) pushed for reform last year (TheColu.mn reported). The coalition agreement between the Union and SPD, however, contains no changes.
Joint Adoptions: Same-sex couples remain a minority
Beyond the dominant realm of stepchild adoptions, the report also highlights joint adoptions. Nearly a quarter of all adopted children (816 cases) in 2025 were adopted jointly by a couple as a non-relative adoption. Heterosexual couples accounted for 21 percent of all adoption cases, same-sex couples only three percent, which corresponds to about 100 child adoptions.
Although same-sex couples have had full joint adoption rights since the introduction of marriage for all in 2017, the absolute numbers for non-relative adoptions remain low. This owes less to a lack of interest from the queer community and more to a general, drastic shortage of children available for adoption. At the end of 2025, nationwide there were only 642 children waiting to be adopted in contrast to 3,187 adoption applications. That means roughly five potential adoptive families per child. (dk)
