Thoughts By Surrogacy Coordinator:
Second-parent adoption is the adoption of a child by a second parent who may not otherwise be considered a legal parent.For gay men and lesbians building families, it’s an important legal tool.
As a crucial step toward parenthood for gay men and lesbians, LGBT couples should always consider availing themselves of the legal mechanism of second-parent adoption.Without it, the partner of a legal parent risks having his or her status as a legally-recognized parent questioned.
As an attorney based in Maryland and DC, I have helped hundreds of couples and singles build their families.I specialize in Maryland second-parent adoptions for gay couples as well as for gay couples in DC.
There are many situations involving couples and their children in which there is only one legal parent, despite the fact that both adults may care for a child equally, and consider themselves “co-parents” in every sense of the term.This “one-legal-parent” scenario is especially common among same-sex couples, for the obvious reason that status as a legal parent is most often granted to the parent who is biologically related to the child — either as mother or father.In fact, in some cases, both parents may be genetically related to the child — but for legal reasons only one is recognized as a legal parent.
In addition, even today some adoption agencies forbid gay adoption or lesbian same-sex couples from adopting together, but do allow a gay or lesbian individual to adopt — again resulting in a situation in which a couple may raise a child but only one of them is a legal parent.In these cases, a second-parent adoption is the solution, not only to providing the second parent (gay or heterosexual) with legal status, but also to obtaining a legal birth certificate with both parents’ names on it following the second-parent adoption procedure.
Once a second-parent adoption is complete, the child — whether a biological child or a child born through a surrogacy arrangement — has two legal guardians and parents, recognized by all states.And in the event of divorce or dissolution of the relationship, both parents’ rights are protected — courts usually grant adoptive parents the very same custody and visitation rights as they do biological parents.
