Maine has become the 10th state to allow LGBTQ couples, regardless of gender or genetic connection to their children, to establish legal parentage with an easy, free form that can be completed at the hospital right after a child’s birth. This form, unlike a birth certificate, is equivalent to a court decree.
Maine Governor Janet Mills on June 10 signed LD 222, An Act to Update the Maine Parentage Act, which expands access to Voluntary Acknowledgments of Parentage (VAP). VAPs are voluntary forms that have traditionally been available to a woman who gave birth and a man to whom she is not married who attests to being the genetic parent of the child. Maine’s new law allows parents of any gender or marital status, including those who are intended parents through assisted reproduction, to complete a VAP. This means that a VAP establishes a legal parent-child relationship for a nonbiological or nongestational parent immediately upon a child’s birth, without needing the expense, delay, and hassle of a home study or court hearing.
Unlike a birth certificate, which is not a court document and is not guaranteed to get “full faith and credit” recognition in other states, a VAP is equivalent to a court decree of parentage. A VAP therefore in theory removes the need for a confirmatory, co-parent (second-parent), or stepparent adoption, though this has not yet been tested in court—and the attorneys at GLAD advise, “Until expanded VAPs are more widely established, GLAD recommends taking a ‘belt and suspenders’ approach and also completing a co-parent adoption.”
Regardless, VAPs are a big step towards more equitable establishment of parentage for all parents, and more security for all children. As GLAD Senior Staff Attorney Polly Crozier said in a statement, “Having a secure legal relationship to their parents is fundamental to a child’s wellbeing and stability, and this update to the law makes that security accessible to more children in Maine. The VAP program is a straightforward means of establishing a child’s legal parentage from birth. Extending access to VAPs provides a fair, equitable and affordable means for LGBTQ parents to protect their children as close to birth as possible.”
VAPs are one of the recommendations included in model parentage legislation developed by the Uniform Law Commission, a non-partisan body of state lawmakers, judges, scholars, and lawyers. This model legislation was designed to help states ensure their parentage laws are constitutional and provide equal access to the security of legal parentage for all children, regardless of the gender or marital status of their parents. A number of states have adopted provisions of this model legislation, most recently Connecticut, which enacted a welcome overhaul of its parentage laws a few weeks ago.
The other states that have enacted legislation allowing parents of any gender to complete VAPs (or Acknowledgments/Affidavits of Parentage, as they are known in some places) are California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Connecticut’s legislation doesn’t go into effect until January 1, 2022, however, and Maine’s goes into effect on October 1, 2021. Additionally, Massachusetts’ VAPs were the result of a Supreme Judicial Court ruling, not legislation, and are currently only available to unmarried couples, though legislation has been introduced to both codify and broaden this. See GLAD’s FAQ on VAPs for more details, since there are some differences in how each state has implemented VAPs. GLAD also has links to each state’s form.
Thanks to all who worked on the new Maine law, including the Family Law Advisory Commission and lead sponsor Rep. Barbara Cardone, and congratulations to all of the Mainers (especially the children) who will benefit from it.