Many queer parents and allies turned out at a Rhode Island House hearing last week to testify in support of two bills that would make it easier for parents of any gender, married or not, to establish legal parentage of a child born through assisted reproduction and to streamline the process of second-parent adoptions.
The first bill, H5706, would simplify the second-parent adoption process for both married and unmarried couples by eliminating the need for an in-person hearing or appearance; an investigation or home study by the Department of Children, Youth and Families; a criminal-records check or check with the federal register for missing children or the central register; a minimum residency period in the home of the petitioners, and notice of the adoption to the donor or consent to the adoption by the donor.
The second bill, H5707, which was introduced for the third time, would establish a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage form, making it easier for nonbiological parents to be on their children’s birth certificates from the start and give them legal responsibility for those children. I wrote at length about these forms, which are being implemented in several states, a few months ago. In short: The simple “Voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage” (VAP) form, currently available to couples of any gender in Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, and Washington (and California in 2020), allows both parents’ names go on the birth certificate, but also “has the force and effect of a court decree of parentage and should be recognized in all states,” explained GLAD Senior Staff Attorney Patience Crozier. (Having said that, Crozier and other LGBTQ legal experts are still advising second-parent adoptions until more states recognize VAPs.)
Rhode Island State Representative Rebecca Kislak (D-Providence) spoke both as a legislator and a parent at the hearing, noting that the bills “would have helped me and my partner Joanna as we were forming our family.” She and Joanna have two children, 13 and nine years old, and went through two second-parent adoptions themselves. Kislak asserted, “These bills would have greatly reduced unnecessary barriers to protecting our family from the start, from day one, at a time when we had plenty of other things to juggle as two working mamas with one and then two babies. Our children each had only one legal parent for about six or seven months until we could complete the home study and the adoption process.” She added, “These bills would streamline the process and protect families like mine, families that have children through surrogacy, and others, ensuring that we modernize our parentage act to reflect the reality of our families and reproductive technologies.” She also wisely noted that even when both parents can be on the birth certificate, second-parent adoptions are still needed because not all states will recognize parentage via a birth certificate alone.
Also speaking was attorney Lise Iwon, who has been helping same-sex couples get second-parent adoptions since 1986, and offered some fascinating history about the process and how she has worked with judges to waive the required six-month waiting period. One of Iwon’s clients also testified, noting that her partner nearly died during the birth of their twins,”which was before I was able to adopt them.” She added, “I would have been in deep trouble” if it weren’t for the paperwork Iwon drew up to help protect them and for the fact that the hospital staff treated her as a parent, even though the law said otherwise. Not everyone is so lucky.
Watch Kislak and Iwon’s testimony below. Uprise RI has also published a number of other clips of parents speaking at the hearing, which I encourage you to go watch as well. Many of them spoke of personal experience with the “invasive” and expensive process of home studies, the months when a child lacks the legal protection of two parents while the adoption process is taking place, and the need for the law to reflect and better protect all families in the state.
Similar VAP bills are also under consideration in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Iwon said in her remarks, however, “I predict that within the next three years, this will be the law of the land.” Let us work towards making that vision a reality.