As fear of attacks on LGBTQ parenthood rise, advocates call for streamlined adoptions

PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last summer revoking the constitutional right to abortion struck fear in the LGBTQ+ community. They took notice, in particular, to a concurring opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas calling for reconsideration of rulings on same-sex marriage and relationships, as well as contraception.

“People are going to come for our marriage,” said Dr. Beth Cronin, an obstetrician in Providence who is in a same-sex marriage and serves LGBTQ+ patients.

If courts challenge their marriage, Cronin worried, what will become of their standing as a family, and as parents.

With those fears in mind and given the increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric nationwide, state Sen. Dawn Euer, D-Newport, sponsored a bill to streamline the adoption process for same-sex couples who conceive a child through assisted reproduction. The measure would remove requirements that a couple post advertisements to relinquish the sperm donors’ parental rights and undergo a home study, unless the court orders otherwise.

“Passing this bill will make it accessible for more Rhode Island parents to secure a confirmatory adoption. It is more important than ever for LGBTQ+ families to have access to the legal protections they want and need for their families,” Euer said.

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But the legislation has a powerful opponent in Family Court Chief Judge Michael B. Forte, who leads the court that presides over adoptions.

He faulted the legislation for essentially directing Family Court judges to "rubber-stamp” adoptions for people who use assisted reproduction to conceive children; he cast it as an affront to the separation of powers.

“Adoption is a legal process created by statute to establish the parentage of a person who is not a birth parent. Oversight is vested in the Family Court,” Forte wrote the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. “The intrusion of the Legislature into the discretion of the Family Court to grant or deny adoptions … and to direct the Family Court to issue adoption decrees, granting adoption `pro forma’ for this population of parents is a violation of the Separation of Powers Doctrine set out in the Rhode Island and United States Constitution[s].”

Euer stands by the proposal, noting that the adoption process itself is a function of state statute and that a Family Court judge would still maintain discretion.

“As the General Assembly, we are the policy-making body for the state,” she said.

Huge gains, but more protections needed, advocates say

In 2020, Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the Rhode Island Uniform Parentage Act into law. The 45-plus page legislation updated state parentage laws for the first time in 40 years to address the changing ways families are made. It provided an avenue for same-sex, unmarried couples and others who rely on assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy to establish parentage at birth through a voluntary acknowledgment.

Advocates say that while that law was transformational, it does not go far enough to secure same-sex family rights, given the Supreme Court ruling and the current anti-LGBTQ climate nationwide. Same-sex families need the protection of an adoption decree in case their parentage is challenged in other states and jurisdictions, they say.

“There is an attack nationwide on LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ families and it has people terrified. Many families want an adoption decree because it allows them to travel throughout the country” with an additional layer of security, said Patience “Polly” Crozier, director of family advocacy at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. Crozier told lawmakers last week of an incident in which her own parentage was challenged at an airport and she had to produce a decree, paperwork she said she always carries with her.

Under the legislation, the non-birth parent or presumed parent would petition Family Court for adoption with the signature and consent of the birth parent. The process would no longer require notice to the sperm donor, a step that couples have found a great indignity.

Also to be waived unless ordered by the court would be state Department of Children, Youth and Families approval, a home study examining the presumed parent’s fitness, verification that the baby is not a missing child, a criminal background check and a requirement that the parent live in the state for six months.

Inside view on adoption

Cronin has a true insider’s view of the stringent requirements, having adopting two older daughters – Juliana and Raven – through the state system, a “long and invasive” process that required classes, training and a home study.

“I was asked almost every imaginable question about my life over a series of home visits: my personal upbringing, the type of alcohol I drink, and my planned parenting philosophy …,” Cronin wrote state lawmakers. “Given the abuse and neglect many children suffer prior to adoption from the foster-care system, I understood the importance of the process to ensure that the parent or parents chosen will provide a safe and nurturing environment for these children to thrive.”

But, she said, that same process is completely unnecessary when she and her wife have gone through the intensive process of selecting a donor and purchasing sperm and monitoring ovulation cycles and undergoing insemination, all in the hopes of growing their family. Grace was born in February 2020 and Teddy in May 2022.

“For most families like ours, this quickly adds up to thousands of dollars, very little of which is covered by insurance. Having parented these two amazing humans over the past three years, much of it with limited help due the COVID-19, the thought of having to adopt them to have all the legal rights of parentage is maddening,” Cronin said of Grace and Teddy. Still, she said, securing an adoption decree feels like the only way to truly guarantee her parental rights.

While she and her wife have means to cover the costs, many of her patients struggle with the expense of assisted reproduction, only to be required to pay for adoption lawyers while raising a newborn, she said.

“It’s another huge burden to secure their families. It seems unnecessary,” she said.

Other states take similar steps

The legislation comes as other states have enacted similar laws, including California, Colorado, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Virginia.

It has drawn support, too, from the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Resolve New England and Providence Mayor Brett P. Smiley.

“As attacks on LGBTQ+ people escalate across the country, it is vital that our state does everything it can to protect our residents, while also [demonstrating] that Rhode Island is a welcoming and inclusive place to start and grow a family,” Smiley wrote to Senate Judiciary. “Passing this bill will make a confirmatory adoption process more accessible to Rhode Island parents and provide them with the security and dignity their families deserve.”

Senate Judiciary held the legislation for further study, as did the House Committee on the Judiciary with that chamber’s version. Rep. Rebecca Kislak, D-Providence, is the lead sponsor in the House.

“Now we need to take this next step to make sure every parent and child can have the security of adoption so they can feel secure if they happen to move or even just visit family in states like Florida or Oklahoma that don’t have the protections we have here,” Kislak said.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: LGBTQ advocates want streamlined RI adoptions to secure parent rights