Olmo Gómez Aldaz · PRUEBAS
Spanish Ombudsman · Case file no. 26037767
The initial complaint number was 26097224. It is now handled under case file no. 26037767, which is the reference to use when joining the complaint.
The complaint calls for autonomy for adult adoptees: the ability to keep their adoption, make the rights arising from their natural parentage and identity of origin effective, or end the adoption if they so decide.
Life after childhood
A child who needs care already has a history, a mother, a father and a genealogy. Giving that child a family to care for them does not erase where they come from. Yet adoption generally extinguishes their legal ties to the family of origin: it changes who their parents are in law, their surnames and the rights they have as a child.
When that child becomes an adult, knowing their origins is not enough to recover what was lost. Even if a judge recognizes their natural parentage, their rights may remain limited because they were adopted. And although they can now make decisions about their life, the law does not allow them to end their adoption of their own free will.
The complaint, submitted by Olmo Gómez Aldaz and now handled under case file no. 26037767, calls for this situation to change. Needing protection during childhood should not mean losing rights of origin or being bound for life to an adoptive relationship.
An especially serious injustice
Not even a victim of baby theft who was adopted can leave their adoption by their own decision. The State may recognize that they were abducted and adopted without their parents' consent and, at the same time, keep them bound to the adoption that gave legal form to that abduction.
Trying to prove, decades later, that the adoption was invalid is not the same as having the right to decide now. The complaint calls for that autonomy for all adult adoptees, including when their adoption was lawful.
Olmo Gómez Aldaz has judicially recovered his natural parentage and identity of origin. The State has recognized him as a victim of abduction and adoption without consent. Yet his adoption remains in force. His case shows the problem; the complaint seeks a solution for everyone.
What is being requested and how far it could go
That being recognized as the child of your parents of origin has real effects: kinship, surnames and family rights. That you can keep your adoption without losing the compatible rights arising from your natural parentage, and decide which identity your documents express.
That, as an adult, you can end the adoptive relationship through a free and informed decision, without having to prove that it was unlawful or obtain the adopters' consent. With safeguards and with its consequences regulated.
That children who need protection can receive care and a new family relationship without generally losing their natural parentage, their identity of origin and the rights compatible with that protection.
This complaint may help promote an amendment to the Civil Code that recognizes the autonomy of adult adoptees, allows victims to decide about the adoption that consolidated their abduction and changes how children are protected in the future.
The Spanish Ombudsman can investigate and recommend changes to administrative criteria and laws. It cannot approve those reforms itself: they are the goal being sought, not a guaranteed outcome.
Your support matters
Because you may want your country to recognize adopted people's right to decide about their own lives. Your support tells the Spanish Ombudsman that this matter of equality and autonomy matters to you too and that you support the reforms being proposed.
Anyone who shares this claim may join: citizens, adoptees, victims of baby theft, relatives and professionals. You may also be entirely satisfied with your adoption and support other people's freedom to decide. The guide covers individual and group submissions.
The guide, the complaint and the form
Joining means submitting a new complaint linked to case file no. 26037767, with the text of your statement of support and the complete document attached. It is not a collection of signatures. Your support backs this claim: it does not change your parentage or request the termination of your adoption.
The step-by-step instructions are here. They include the text to copy on page 4 and the options for adapting the first paragraph on page 5.
Open the guide (PDF)Read the document you are going to support. These 24 pages contain the three complaints and their requests. Download this PDF to attach it to the form.
Download the complaint (PDF)Once you have adapted the text and have the PDF ready, submit the new complaint through the official portal. The guide will accompany you throughout the process.
Go to the official formThe guide, the document and the form open in a new tab.
Keep the receipt and the reference number assigned to your new complaint by the Spanish Ombudsman. When you receive it, if you can, send the number or the receipt to olmo@gomezaldaz.com. This communication is voluntary.
Case file no. 26037767 · Spanish Ombudsman
Keep their adoption, recover their rights of origin or end the adoptive relationship. Your support backs that autonomy.