To read about it in the news, the big story out of France is the decision of the country's highest court that a child who has been adopted by her biological mother's partner in the US has two legally recognized parents in France. (I'm trying not to be too annoyed that this account of the court's decision says the women are both physicians but calls them "Mrs. B" and "Mrs. N"). And that is indeed a big deal, given that not so long ago the French courts were ruling that being gay was a disqualifier from adopting a child.
But you might miss the fact in the story that the American second-parent adoption was granted in...Georgia. Now I have never heard of a second-parent adoption in Georgia, and neither NCLR nor HRC list Georgia among the states where some counties have approved such adoptions.
So I say "bravo" to the French court, but a double shout out to the Georgia court that granted the second-parent adoption. It supports my faith in family court judges, who often know where the best interests of a particular child lie and are unswayed by ideological claims that conrtadict those interests.
4 comments:
that is an awesome development!! That is also very surprising that Georgia allows adoption by a partner. Being from the South myself I know how they react to such things. But this just shows that even in the most restrictive parts of the country, there is hope.
Those of us Georgians who live in Fulton and Dekalb counties (Atlanta) can almost always get a second parent adoption. Folks in other metro counties also have a shot at them, but it's a little dicey in the 100+ other counties in the state.
I'm sure the people at Mega Family (GA's LGBTQ family organization) can provide more info if anyone needs it: http://www.megafamilyproject.org/
Thank you! There are so many states where this is true. It makes me think of the early days of second parent adoption when there were NO appellate court rulings, just individual judges willing to grant them. The lawyers "in the know" passed around the trial court orders just to show the next judge that someone had done it before.
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