The Code on Children and Adolescents provides for three types of adoption:

1. Individual adoption is the option given to a person to adopt.
2. Joint adoption is the power granted to unmarried persons in a de facto marital union with an uninterrupted cohabitation of at least two years and spouses.
3. Consenting adoption is the permission granted to the spouse, partner or permanent companion of the biological parent of a child or adolescent as long as the couple can prove uninterrupted cohabitation of at least two years.

The Code does not establish the sex of "permanent partners", so the rule is neutral and should be interpreted equally.