Children in Hawaii with LGBTQ parents now have access to more secure legal protections, after Hawaii Governor Josh Green (D) yesterday signed legislation updating the state’s parentage laws to be more inclusive of them and other children formed via assisted reproduction.
Among other things, the legislation lays out equitable paths to parentage for LGBTQ families and those formed via assisted reproduction, including surrogacy; clarifies that a functional parent (someone acting as a parent who meets certain specified criteria) is a legal parent; and removes gendered language.
The paths to parentage now also include voluntary acknowledgments of parentage (VAP), simple, free forms that can be completed at the hospital immediately after a birth (or later) to establish legal parentage. While all states are required by federal law to have such forms for different-sex unmarried couples, Hawaii becomes the 13th state that explicitly states that married and same-sex parents can also access them, per the Movement Advancement Project.
The legislation is based on the 2017 Uniform Parentage Act (UPA), model parentage legislation developed by the non-partisan Uniform Law Commission. Hawaii is now the 10th state to enact comprehensive legislation based on or substantially similar to the 2017 UPA, following California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. (Additionally, New Hampshire and New York have comprehensive parentage legislation that is not based on the UPA, per the Movement Advancement Project.)
Shortly after Michigan passed similar legislation last May, I spoke with two key advocates in that effort about why this type of parentage reform is urgently needed and what their advice is for advocates hoping to enact it in other states. I hope you will go read that if you haven’t already. You may also be interested in my subsequent August piece when my home state of Massachusetts updated its parentage laws.
Hawaii’s new Uniform Parentage Act will go into effect on January 1, 2026.
For more details and further resources on securing your parentage, please read “LGBTQ Paths to Parentage Security,” a short guide from myself and GLAD Law. As always, contact an attorney in your state who is familiar with LGBTQ-related family law if you have specific questions or concerns.