Parental Rights for Same-Sex Partners
Understand your legal rights over children you take care of.
There are all kinds of parents in this world -- loving, compassionate, distant, stern -- the adjectives go on and on. But for gay and lesbian couples wanting to raise a child, the adjective that can be of most significance is "legal."
Legal Parents' Rights and Responsibilities
A legal parent is a person who has the right to live with a child (full or part time) and to make decisions about the child's health, education, and well-being. A legal parent is also responsible for financial support.
When a married couple has or jointly adopts a child, both partners are automatically considered legal parents. As a result, even if they split up, they both remain legal parents unless a court terminates either parent's rights. This rarely happens, unless a parent abandons a child or consents to the
Stepparents' Rights and Responsibilities
A stepparent (the new spouse of a legal parent) is not a legal parent, unless the other legal parent consents to a stepparent adoption. If that doesn't happen, then as much as the stepparent may be involved in raising and supporting the child, the stepparent won't be entitled to custody or required to pay child support if the couple separates. In a few states, a stepparent may be granted visitation with the child if a close psychological bond has developed between the stepparent and the child and it would be in the child's best interest to continue the contact.
Parent Status for Same-Sex Partners
Legal parentage is more complicated for same-sex couples, because only one partner can be a biological parent. If both partners in a couple adopt a child jointly, then both with be legal parents automatically. But joint adoption for same-sex couples is not available everywhere. If one partner has a child, then the couple will have to take some kind of legal action to ensure that both partners have the same legal rights and responsibilities with regard to the child.
States differ widely about what is and is not allowed. Some states permit same-sex partners to adopt their partners' kids through second parent or stepparent adoption procedures; others allow parental relationships to be established under a set of laws called the Uniform Parentage Act. How these rules are established also varies. Some procedures are authorized by statute, some are established by the appellate court, and some have only been approved by local judges acting in the absence of any higher court ruling. In some states, there is no legal way for a second parent to become a legal parent because a judge, an appellate court, or the legislature has said that lesbians and gays are not allowed to adopt their partners' children--or any others.