From January 2002 NASW NEWS
Copyright ©2002, National Association of Social Workers, Inc.

Gay Parents' Rights Backed

Parents' sexual orientation "appears to be irrelevant."

By Corinna Vallianatos, NEWS Staff

NASW joined other professional associations in filing friend-of-the-court briefs in three cases involving child welfare and the rights of lesbian and gay parents.

The three briefs reflect the position taken by NASW in its revised policy statement on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues, which urges the association to work in coalitions for laws that recognize the legal rights of lesbian, gay and bisexual relationships.

In the first case, to be heard before Nebraska's Supreme Court, NASW and its Nebraska Chapter joined the American Psychological Association and the Nebraska Psychological Association in providing a collection of research, studies and data that support the rights of gay men and lesbians to enter into second-parent adoptions, after a county court denied a lesbian co-parent a second-parent adoption because of her sexual orientation.

Second-parent adoption usually refers to the legal adoption of a child by the partner of the biological parent.

"Research and clinical experience indicate that when children have been raised from birth or an early age by lesbian couples, co-parent adoption will ordinarily provide significant psychological and social benefits to them and therefore will ordinarily be in their best interests," according to the amicus curiae brief.

The brief states that parents' sexual orientation "appears to be irrelevant" and that continuity of the relationship between parent and child once bonds have developed is "important for the child's healthy development."

The brief also warns that if the "biological mother dies, the children can be removed from their families and consigned to strangers, losing both parents, and possibly siblings and other relatives, at a time when the child most needs stability."

NASW also joined the Ohio Psychological Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Public Health Association and the American Counseling Association in filing an amicus brief in a case to be heard before Ohio's Supreme Court. The case involves a lesbian couple whose request for a shared parenting order was rejected by a lower court.

The brief makes clear the importance of the legal recognition of existing child-parent relationships. "Recognizing a legal relationship between the children and both parents preserves the legal rights of the noncustodial parent to continue contact through visitation or joint custody, thus assuring continuity in the children's relationship with both parents," the brief states. It also serves the best interest of children by protecting their primary attachments to persons who otherwise have no legal standing in the event of the death of the legally recognized parent, according to the brief.

In the case of two lesbian parents, "legal recognition of a child's primary attachments can be preserved through entry of a shared parenting order, equitable or legal adoptions, or other legal mechanisms."

NASW and the other amici stressed that their position does not reject the value of traditional families, but that "we are, in every aspect of society, simply trying to be more inclusive in our efforts to ensure that all children receive the support they need."

The amici urged that the court "consider and adopt an expansive definition of the parent-child relationship for legal purposes."

Additionally, NASW joined 54 children's advocacy, religious, social service, labor, women's and community-based organizations in filing a brief on behalf of a woman in Pennsylvania seeking application of custody and visitation rights to a child she raised with her lesbian partner equal to those that would extend to a person in a heterosexual relationship.

"The overwhelming weight of authority has established beyond reasoned dispute that lesbian and gay parents are as capable of creating a healthy, loving and wholesome home environment for children as any other parents," the brief states.

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