Lesbian Adoption Allowed in New York

In a case of first impression, a split New York State appellate court reversed a family court's order dismissing the adoption petition filed by a lesbian couple, and approved the adoption of a 5-year-old Cambodian girl. Matter of Adoption of Carolyn B., CAF 03-01032, Appellate Division, 4th Department, March 24, 2004.

Although no one opposed the adoption petition submitted by Nancy Hackett and Sheila Sloan, Family Court Judge Gail A. Donofrio in Rochester dismissed it on the ground that they had not complied with Domestic Relations Law ' 110, which addresses the subject of who may adopt. The statute lists only an unmarried adult, or a husband and his wife. Justice Samuel L. Green, writing for the majority of the appellate court, said there was no question that the law confers standing on either Hackett or Sloan to adopt Carolyn. The sexual orientation of the girl's proposed parents was not significant, he said, because the goal of the statute was to encourage the adoption of as many children as possible. However, the statute “neither expressly prohibits petitioners, as an unmarried couple, from adopting Carolyn jointly … nor expressly permits them to do so.”

Justice Green found the arguments in Matter of Jacob, 86 NY2d 651 (1995) compelling. The majority in Jacob had concluded that DRL ' 110's language did not pose a statutory impediment to second-parent adoptions and that the legislative purpose of promoting the best interests of the child would be advanced “in situations like those presented here by allowing the two adults who actually function as a child's parents to become the child's legal parents.”

Green rejected the presiding justice's suggestion that the women should file individual petitions to adopt on the grounds that it would deprive Carolyn of two legal parents during the interval between the completion of separate petitions and as a waste of judicial resources. Hackett and Sloan have lived together for 22 years, had registered as domestic partners, and had participated in a “commitment ceremony” recognized by the Episcopal Church, Green's opinion noted. They had adopted another child in separate proceedings in 1996, and took the new child into their home in December 2001, after her first adoptive parents returned her to the adoption agency.

In a case of first impression, a split New York State appellate court reversed a family court's order dismissing the adoption petition filed by a lesbian couple, and approved the adoption of a 5-year-old Cambodian girl. Matter of Adoption of Carolyn B., CAF 03-01032, Appellate Division, 4th Department, March 24, 2004.

Although no one opposed the adoption petition submitted by Nancy Hackett and Sheila Sloan, Family Court Judge Gail A. Donofrio in Rochester dismissed it on the ground that they had not complied with Domestic Relations Law ' 110, which addresses the subject of who may adopt. The statute lists only an unmarried adult, or a husband and his wife. Justice Samuel L. Green, writing for the majority of the appellate court, said there was no question that the law confers standing on either Hackett or Sloan to adopt Carolyn. The sexual orientation of the girl's proposed parents was not significant, he said, because the goal of the statute was to encourage the adoption of as many children as possible. However, the statute “neither expressly prohibits petitioners, as an unmarried couple, from adopting Carolyn jointly … nor expressly permits them to do so.”

Justice Green found the arguments in Matter of Jacob, 86 NY2d 651 (1995) compelling. The majority in Jacob had concluded that DRL ' 110's language did not pose a statutory impediment to second-parent adoptions and that the legislative purpose of promoting the best interests of the child would be advanced “in situations like those presented here by allowing the two adults who actually function as a child's parents to become the child's legal parents.”

Green rejected the presiding justice's suggestion that the women should file individual petitions to adopt on the grounds that it would deprive Carolyn of two legal parents during the interval between the completion of separate petitions and as a waste of judicial resources. Hackett and Sloan have lived together for 22 years, had registered as domestic partners, and had participated in a “commitment ceremony” recognized by the Episcopal Church, Green's opinion noted. They had adopted another child in separate proceedings in 1996, and took the new child into their home in December 2001, after her first adoptive parents returned her to the adoption agency.