Vol. 17, No. 1 • November 2012

Second Parent Adoption:
Why It Matters

by Mark Maxwell

If you are an unmarried couple and you adopt a child in the State of North Carolina only one parent may have legal protections. In June 2012 the Americans Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the State of North Carolina on behalf of children denied the legal protections that their unmarried parents want to provide them.

A second-parent adoption occurs when an unmarried partner adopts the biological or adoptive child of their partner. The ACLU said the ban hurts all families, because it denies children legal protections and leaves the second non-biological or non-adoptive parent vulnerable. "They may not be covered by their non-legal parent's health insurance plan; or if the child is sick or injured, hospital staff may prevent the non-legal parent from visiting the child in the hospital or from consenting to needed medical care. In some cases, a child may be ripped from the only home he or she has ever known if one legal parent dies."

In North Carolina an unmarried couple can jointly foster a child, but the state will only allow one of the parties to become the legal adoptive parent. The policy denies children the opportunity to grow up in secure homes that protect their interest in the event that one parent dies or the relationship dissolves. The non-adoptive parent is left with no rights under the current law. If a child becomes sick in the care of the non-adoptive parent, a hospital is not required to recognize decisions made by the individual without consent of the legal parent or an instrument like a health care power of attorney. Preparing legal documents is an expense to the families and could be challenged by non-supportive family members of the legal parent.

Currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia allow second parent adoptions. Five states ban them. Until late 2010, family court judges issued second parent adoptions in North Carolina on a case-by-case basis. A decision in the federal lawsuit will impact North Carolina families and millions of children across the United States.

Mark Maxwell serves as an executive board member of the NC Foster and Adoptive Parent Association. He is a foster and adoptive father and the proud parent of four boys.

~ Family and Children's Resource Program, UNC-CH School of Social Work ~