Cases: family reunions of minors who join from abroad in Italy the person to whom they were entrusted in kafala; entrusting of minors to relatives in kafala and consequent exit from the biological family unit with possible accusation of child neglect or parental inadequacy for non-exercise of parental duties (family law).

---

Cultural test

Legal Insights

Anthropological insights

---

Proposed balancing act: the kafala may be the only child-supporting instrument for some Muslim minors and, moreover, it is absolutely comparable to some child-care models other than adoption that are widely used in legal systems; therefore, the link resulting from it should generally be acknowledged, as its distorted use may be discerned through judicial evaluation and observation in the concrete case. Therefore parents accused of abandoning their children for entrusting them in kafala should be acquitted and family reunification allowed between children and adults even if they are not their biological parents.

Bibliographic references

​Legal Bibliography
Carobene, G. (2019). "Pratiche legali, diversità culturali e religiose nel rapporto dialettico tra kafala e adozione." In Quaderni di diritto e politica ecclesiastica, Fascicolo 1, aprile 2019, pp. 135-153.
 Cesari, V. (2019). "La kafala di diritto islamico nella giurisprudenza italiana: evoluzione e nuove prospettive di riconoscimento." Consultabile in https://ius.giuffrefl.it/dettaglio/7865132/la-kafala-di-diritto-islamico-nella-giurisprudenza-italiana-evoluzione-e-nuove-prospettive-di-riconoscimento​.
 Garaci, I. (2020). "Identità Culturale e Best Interest of the Child." In Diritto di Famiglia e delle Persone, fasc. 4, 1° dicembre 2020, pp. 1659 e ss.
Iovane, M. (2022). "The Best Interest of the Child: Il Cammino dei Diritti del Minore a Trent'anni dalla Ratifica della Convenzione delle Nazioni Unite sui Diritti del Fanciullo." In Diritto delle Successioni e della Famiglia, pp. 445-460.
Lamarque, E. (2023). "Best Interests of the Child. Pesare le Parole. Il Principio dei Best Interests of the Child come Principio del Miglior Interesse del Minore." In Famiglia e Diritto, 4, pp. 365-372.
 
Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading)
 
Bargach, J. (2002). Orphans of Islam: Family Abandonment and Secret Adoption in Morocco. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publisher.
 
This interesting ethnographic work addresses the case of orphaned and abandoned children in contemporary Morocco, through a careful analysis of the concept of kafala and adoption in current times and its social significance.
With her fieldwork, the author succeeds in describing both the point of view of the children and the point of view of the adopting families; what can be understood from Bargach's work is that there is a complex nexus of kinship ideologies, textual traditions, state institutions and (inter)national actors that condition and construct the conditions in which abandonment and adoption develop.
 
Anthropological bibliography (for further reading)
 
Aḥmad, N. A. A. (2002). Islamic Family Law in a Changing World. London: Global Resource Book.
Badawi, Z. (1995). "Muslim justice in a secular state." In King, M. (Ed.), God’s Law Versus State Law: The Construction of Islamic Identity in Western Europe. London: Grey Seal, pp. 73-80.
Cilardo, A. (2011). "Il minore nel diritto islamico. Il nuovo istituto della kafāla." In Cilardo, A. (Ed.), La tutela dei minori di cultura islamica nell'area mediterranea. Aspetti sociali, giuridici e medici. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, pp. 219–263.