Two court cases show us why some same-sex parents are struggling for recognition both outside of and within the LGBTQ community.
First, David Mack at BuzzFeed takes a look at what one Kansas legislator calls “systemic” discrimination against LGBT people in the state when it comes to adoption and foster care. Although there are apparently a number of such cases, the article focuses on one, in which a lesbian couple had a foster child removed from their care because another couple, already with 14 children, wanted to adopt her. That second couple (a man and a woman) was later charged with child abuse.
The wrinkle is that the girl’s half-siblings were already with the different-sex couple. I’m usually all for keeping siblings together—but it seems that in this case, there was not enough screening done of the second couple. The second couple also would not have been allowed to foster the child, because they did not have enough room in their home, but adoption, apparently, does not have such a restriction. Although BuzzFeed does not mention this, it occurs to me that the same-sex couple is Black, and the different-sex couple is White, making me wonder (although I have no evidence) if racial bias played a part here, too.
In another case, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency stay of an Alabama Supreme Court order that refused to recognize the adoption of three children by a lesbian mom. The stay means that the woman will have visitation with her children until the U.S. Supreme Court either rules on her case or refuses to take it.
That’s good news, but the whole situation is ugly, with one mom trying to deny her ex-partner any parental status and calling into question the validity of adoptions from state to state. It’s akin to the many cases, going back years, in which a biological mom will try to deny parental rights to a nonbiological mom, disrupting their child(ren)’s relationship with the latter and setting a pattern that could threaten the recognition of other nonbiological parents.
My thoughts are with these parents struggling to maintain connections with their children. Thanks to the lawyers and others working on their behalf.