In what the Vermont Rutland Herald is calling “a first-of-its kind parent custody change,” Judge William Cohen of the Rutland Family Court yesterday granted sole custody of 7-year-old Isabella Miller to her non-biological mother, Janet Jenkins. Jenkins has been fighting her former partner Lisa Miller for visitation for years now. Miller says she is no […]
Too good to wait for the weekly roundup: The Montana Supreme Court affirmed a trial court decision granting a “parental interest” to Michelle Kulstad, a lesbian mom who had been co-parenting two children legally adopted only by her ex-partner, Barbara Maniaci. Under state law, the women could not jointly adopt. Maniaci is now married to
Politics and Law Uruguay’s Senate approved a bill to allow same-sex couples and unmarried opposite-sex ones to adopt children. It now goes to President Tabare Vazquez, who is expected to approve. Uruguay would then become the first Latin American country to permit same-sex couples to adopt. In other happy news, same-sex female couples in the
Two lesbian moms who had a child in Florida are in the midst of a custody battle with their known sperm donor. The donor, Ray Janssen, and his partner Craig were involved with the child’s life until the moms, Katherine Alicea and Ana Sobrino, moved to California. Janssen then sued them for custody. A Miami-Dade
I wrote yesterday about the Utah court that just denied parenting rights to non-bio mom Gena Edvalson. The court said the parenting contract she had signed with her former partner Jana Dickson “directly offends the state’s public policy that parents retain the fundamental right to exercise the primary control over the care and supervision of
A couple of months ago, I mentioned the case of Gena Edvalson and Jana Dickson, a former couple now involved in a custody and visitation dispute over the three-year-old son they created together through assisted insemination and raised together until their breakup in 2007. Dickson, the bio mom, is now married to a man and
Once again, Nancy Polikoff is making me think this week. Yesterday, she managed to inform us of why media treatment of Michael Jackson may indeed have a direct impact on LGBT families: The news reports this morning about the circumstances of the conception of Michael Jackson’s children are suggesting that the information might impact who
This just in: More good news for non-bio moms, to add to the Jenkins-Miller decision I posted about earlier: A California Court of Appeal has denied the latest appeal (PDF) of Kristina S., a biological, “ex-lesbian” mom who has been trying since 2004 to prevent her former partner Charisma R. from being declared a legal
It’s the case that will not end. The custody battle between Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins, has dragged on for years. Miller, the bio mom, who now says she is no longer a lesbian, most recently tried in Virginia to block enforcement of a Vermont order granting Jenkins visitation rights with their seven-year-old daughter Isabella.
On Monday, I posted happy news of changes to the Uniform Probate Code that would allow for greater recognition of non-bio moms. Lawyer Nancy Polikoff, who was the source of the news, now lets us know of a custody case involving a non-bio mom that has me spitting nails in anger. Leslea and Michelle White,
