Vermont Adoption Law
Permits single GLBT individuals to petition to adopt? Yes.
Vermont law permits any person to petition to adopt. VT. STAT. ANN. Tit. 15A § 1-102(a)
Permits a same-sex couple to jointly petition to adopt? Yes.
Same-sex couples who are joined by civil unions may petition to jointly adopt. According to the website for the Vermont Dept. of Children and Families, Family Services Division: “You can be . . . living with a partner, or joined through a civil union”
Permits a same-sex co-parent to petition to adopt partner’s child or child of the relationship? Yes.
“If a family unit consists of a parent and the parent's partner, and adoption is in the best interest of the child, the partner of a parent may adopt a child of the parent. Termination of the parent's parental rights is unnecessary in an adoption under this subsection.” VT. STAT. ANN. Tit. 15A § 1-102(b)
The Vermont civil union statute states that “Parties to a civil union shall have all the same benefits, protections and responsibilities under law, whether they derive from statute, administrative or court rule, policy, common law or any other source of civil law, as are granted to spouses in a marriage.” It also explicitly states that the “legal benefits, protections and responsibilities [of] . . . adoption law and procedure” shall apply to parties to a civil union in the same way that they apply to spouses of a marriage. VT STAT ANN. Tit. 15 § 1204(a), (e)(4)
Details: According to the website for the Vermont Dept. of Children and Families, Family Services Division: “You can be single, married, living with a partner, or joined through a civil union”; and “Applications are considered regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.”
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Last Updated: 1/22/2008