Adoption and Parenting

6/9/2008

"Virginia's highest court ruled Friday that the state must enforce a Vermont court order awarding child-visitation rights to a mother's former lesbian partner.

"The Virginia Supreme Court rejected Lisa Miller's claim that a lower court improperly ignored a Virginia law and a state constitutional amendment that prohibit same-sex unions and the recognition of such arrangements from other states.

10/15/2007

"...Ed Swaya and Greg Hampel, who went through a wedding ceremony in 1999, filled out the paperwork to get the document but received a certificate back from the Health Department that listed Hampel as the father, but left off Swaya's name, he said.

"'It said they couldn't establish maternity for Mr. Swaya, so they left my name off the birth certificate," Swaya said. "They didn't want to put two men's names on the birth certificate.'

8/4/2007

"Should the legal ties between parents and their adopted child unravel if the family leaves the state where the adoption decree was handed down?

"Of course, not. The very idea is outrageous.

"But that's what Oklahoma lawmakers were striving for in 2004 with their chillingly titled 'Adoption Invalidation Law,' which targeted adopted children with gay parents.

8/4/2007

"The federal appeals court in Denver on Friday struck down Oklahoma's law that bans state recognition of out-of-state adoptions by same-sex parents.

"The ruling is a victory for gay and lesbian couples who adopt children.

"...An attorney for the same-sex parents, Kenneth Upton, speaking from his office in Dallas, said, 'We're just real happy for these parents and their kids.'

8/4/2007

"An Oklahoma law that bars state recognition of adoptions from other states by same-sex parents is unconstitutional, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. The ruling is a victory for gay and lesbian couples who adopt children.

"It is a defeat for Oklahoma legislators who passed the law in 2004 and for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which sought to uphold the law.