The Republican governor of Vermont, Phil Scott, signed a bill May 22 that will make it easier for nongestational LGBTQ parents to confirm their legal parentage via adoption, without burdensome and unnecessary requirements.
Rep. Barbara Rachelson (D), the primary sponsor of “An act relating to confirmatory adoptions” (H.98), said in a press release, “I’m proud to see this bill signed into law. This is what we should be prioritizing as legislators: ensuring that all Vermont families—no matter how they’re formed—are legally protected and more secure.”
The new law is needed because, as bill co-sponsor Rep. Martin LaLonde (D) explained, “Although Vermont recognizes parents who use assisted reproduction with donor gametes as legal parents, other states may not.” An adoption decree must be recognized by all states, however, and “Streamlining the adoption process enables families to more easily obtain this important layer of protection.”
Non-gestational LGBTQ parents in all states have long been advised by legal experts to obtain a co-parent (second-parent) adoption, court order of parentage, or equivalent that will receive full faith and credit across the U.S., even if they are married to the gestational parent and on the child’s birth certificate. A standard adoption process, however, is lengthy and expensive, and involves processes like a background check and home study, which feel unnecessary and humiliating for someone adopting a child whom they had planned with a partner from the start.
Vermont’s new confirmatory adoption law, however, makes it the 10th state (per the Movement Advancement Project) that now offers a much simplified process. It builds on 2018’s Vermont Parentage Act, which set out clear paths to parentage for all parents, including LGBTQ parents, unmarried parents, and those who used assisted reproduction. Under the confirmatory adoption law, people who had children via assisted reproduction and who are parents or presumed parents under the Vermont Parentage Act can petition for an adoption decree simply by filing:
- A petition for adoption signed by all parents;
- A copy of the petitioners’ marriage certificate, if applicable;
- A signed declaration explaining the circumstances of the child’s birth through assisted reproduction, attesting that the parents consented to assisted reproduction, and stating that no other persons have a claim to parentage;
- A certified copy of the child’s birth certificate.
The petitioners do not need to make an in-person court appearance (although the court may require a remote hearing), and the process does not require a home study, background check, notice to donor, or minimum residency period of the child in the home. (There may be exceptions in cases where the court finds there is good cause, “supported by written findings,” but the idea is that these would be rare.)
Meg York, senior policy counsel and director of LGBTQ+ family law and policy at Family Equality, noted that the new law “gives increased legal security to children born through assisted reproduction in an efficient and validating manner. Parents seeking to protect their children in this way will no longer endure an onerous, lengthy, and expensive adoption process, making it accessible to more families.”
Polly Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) added, “With extremists escalating their attacks on LGBTQ+ people across the country, parents are justifiably seeking paths to secure their legal parent-child relationship, including through adoption decrees, which are easily recognizable and must receive respect in all jurisdictions.” She noted the growing number of states with confirmatory adoption laws, and said, “We expect others will follow their lead.”
It’s great to see this kind of progress in a state with a Republican governor, making me hopeful that Crozier is right.
The Vermont confirmatory adoption law goes into effect on July 1, 2025. If you live in Vermont (or plan to) and have questions about it, contact GLAD Law Answers for free and confidential legal information, assistance, and referrals.
For more on co-parent adoptions and other options that may be available for securing your parentage, please see “LGBTQ Paths to Parentage Security” at lgbtqparentage.org, a brief guide that GLAD Law and I developed.