Second-Parent Adoption
The best thing to do if you are not a legal parent but wish to become one to a child you have with your partner is to seek a second-parent adoption. A second-parent adoption allows a second parent to adopt a child without the "first parent" losing any parental rights. In this way, the child comes to have two legal parents: you and your partner. It also typically grants adoptive parents the same rights as biological parents in custody and visitation matters.
Eight states and the District of Columbia have approved second-parent adoption for lesbian and gay parents either by statute or state appellate court rulings, which means that it is granted in all counties statewide. These states include:
- California
- Connecticut
- Illinois
- Massachusetts
- New Jersey
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Vermont
California allows same-sex couples to apply for step-parent adoption as a result of the domestic partner law that was signed into law in 2001.
Lesbian and gay parents also have been granted second-parent adoptions in 18 other states. In some of these states, adoptions have been granted at the trial court level, which means that they have, to date, been approved in certain counties only. In other states, there is anecdotal evidence of these adoptions being granted, though there is a lack of affirmative case law. These 18 states include:
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Delaware
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Washington