A French court may have just set a new legal precedent, by allowing a half-brother and half-sister to retain parentage of their daughter before the eyes of the law.
The parties to the case, known only as Rose-Marie and Hervé, met in 2006 – and had no idea that they shared the same mother. The pair had been fostered as children, and raised by different families in their native France.
Against all odds, Rose-Marie and Hervé met and fell in love 11 years ago. They went on to have their daughter, Océane, together, in 2009.
According to The Local, it wasn't until they went to register their daughter’s birth that Rose-Marie and Hervé discovered that they were related. They separated, and Rose-Marie went on to raise little Océane alone.
Under French civil law, only one parent of a child born out of an incestuous relationship can be officially recognised.
Initially, French authorities wanted to withdraw parentage from Rose-Marie. The mother chose to challenge this, chiefly on the grounds that she is the one who raised Océane, now eight years old.
The 46-year-old appealed to a court in her native Caen, and saw the original decision overturned.
The Court of Appeal this week ruled that, contrary to French civil law, both Rose-Marie and Hervé should be recognised officially as the parents of Océane. The presiding judge ruled that to do otherwise would have ‘damaging consequences’ for the child.
As crazy as it sounds, this is not the first such case of long-lost relatives falling in love. Back in 2010, an Irish couple – who chose to remain anonymous – shared the story of how they had a child together, only to realise that they were actually half-brother and half-sister.
The unnamed man spoke to an Irish newspaper, explaining how the couple – who, it turned out, share the same father – met at a nightclub and started a relationship.
After welcoming their first child into the world, they took DNA tests – which turned up the shocking revelation.
The man admitted that if it wasn’t for their child, they would have ‘left it’ and gone their separate ways.
