As the LGBTQ community continues to struggle amid a troubling national landscape under President Donald Trump, one state-level adoption win serves as a beacon of hope.
Rep. Barbara Rachelson of Vermont sponsored a new law that will streamline the process for parents whose children were born through some form of assisted reproduction, such as surrogacy, and are seeking an official adoption decree. Namely, it serves to eliminate mandates for home studies, probational residency periods (in which the children live with the prospective parents under court monitoring) and other time-consuming roadblocks to finishing the adoption process.
Last week, her bill passed.
Vermont is the 10th state to implement such a policy, joining the likes of California, New Jersey and Colorado. In these states, parents need only submit a child’s birth certificate, a signed adoption petition, a marriage certificate (if applicable) and a signed declaration regarding the child’s conception – a significantly faster and easier process.
“This is what we should be prioritizing as legislators: Ensuring that all Vermont families — no matter how they’re formed — are legally protected and more secure,” Rachelson said in a press release issued by LGBTQ legal rights group Glad Law, adding that she’s proud to see it enacted.
Added bill co-sponsor Rep. Martin LaLonde to Glad Law: “Parents who use assisted reproduction, in Vermont and elsewhere, continue to face the reality that other states may discriminate against them and refuse to recognize their legal status as parents because of a lack of genetic connection — especially if the parents are LGBTQ.”
Indeed, discrimination of people who identify as part of the LGBTQ community appears to be rising. The American Civil Liberties Union is presently tracking nearly 600 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation (and counting), which go after everything from accessing identification and inclusive class curricula to receiving gender-affirming healthcare (which is also in federal-level peril).
That context underscores the importance of the Vermont measure, legal experts say. “With extremists escalating their attacks on LGBTQ people across the country, parents are justifiably seeking paths to secure their legal parent-child relationship,” said Polly Crozier, director of Glad Law.
Added Meg York, senior policy counsel and director of nonprofit Family Equality about the recently passed legislation: “It gives increased legal security to children born through assisted reproduction in an efficient and validating manner. Parents seeking to protect their children in this way will no longer endure an onerous, lengthy and expensive adoption process – making it accessible to more families.”
