Adoption and Parenting

(Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 29, 2005) — A Pennsylvania state appeals court issued a strong ruling that grants a lesbian mom visitation with her daughter that had been denied solely because her ex-partner (the child’s biological mother) worked to alienate the child from her, Lambda Legal said today.

(CHICAGO, December 16, 1999) — A lesbian mother faces the devastating prospect of never seeing her young daughter again because an Illinois appeals court, citing the state marriage code's silence on same-sex families, held that it could not consider her plea for visitation, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday.

(Los Angeles, Friday, April 8, 2005) — Lambda Legal today filed a friend-of-the-court brief at the California Supreme Court, seeking to ensure that children raised in lesbian- or gay-headed households always have the support of two parents.

(Austin, Texas, April 28, 2005) — In a letter sent to a legislative conference committee today, Lambda Legal says it opposes a proposed amendment to a foster care bill that would categorically ban gay men, lesbians and bisexuals from being foster parents in Texas.

(Annapolis, Maryland, June 16, 2005) -- In a ruling received today the Maryland Court of Special Appeals said a gay father should have his day in court.

"This decision is an important step on the road to reuniting this family. Our client can now show the trial court how the restriction requiring his long-time partner to live outside the home the family shared for many years makes no sense and only hurts his twelve year old son," said Susan Sommer, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal, who represented the father in oral argument before the appeals court earlier this year.

(CHICAGO, July 21, 1999) -- An Illinois appeals court, strongly affirming the right of lesbian and gay families to adopt, has formalized its rebuke of a rogue circuit court judge whose bias interfered with adoptions by two lesbian couples, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Wednesday.

(Jackson, MS, July 20, 2005) — Lambda Legal today filed a brief in the Chancery Court of Jackson County on behalf of a Mississippi mother who has been barred from allowing her children to have contact with their aunt because she has HIV.

Lambda Legal represents Keri Rowell, who was granted an extension of the temporary custody of her three children contingent upon their being denied physical contact with their aunt, Tanya Wilkins, because she has HIV. Rowell wishes to live with her sister but is unable to do so as a result of the restriction.

(ATLANTA, June 24, 1999) -- A Florida appeals court has ruled that a lesbian mother who raised a child with her former partner but lacks a biological or adoptive tie to the child does not have the right to seek visitation or custody now that the couple has split up, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Thursday.

A three-judge panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach on Wednesday refused even to give Penny Kazmierazak the opportunity to present evidence about the maternal bonds between her and her daughter Zoey, now six years old.