Adoptions by B.L.V.B. and E.L.B.B
628 A.2d 1271 (1993)



ProcedureAppellants, a mother and her partner, filed a proceeding in the Washington Probate Court (Vermont) seeking legal recognition of their status as co-parents and asking for the partner to be allowed to adopt the mother's children. The lower court denied the adoption petitions, and the mother and her partner appealed.

Facts: Jane and Deborah (Ps) are two women, living in a committed, monogamous relationship. Jane gave birth to two children, to whom Deborah is the co- parent. Ps filed petitions to allow Deborah to adopt the children. The petitions were uncontested and the Department of Social Services recommended the adoptions. The probate court declined to determine whether the adoptions were in the children's best interests because the proposed adoptive mother did not satisfy the statutory requirement that required her to be the spouse of the natural parent if the natural parent were to retain her parental rights. Ps appeal.

Issue: Must an adoptive parent give up her parental rights if she permits another life partner to adopt her present children?

Rule: An adoptive parent need not give up her parental rights if she permits another life partner to adopt her present children

Holding: Yes. Reversed. The stepparent exception to the adoption statutes allows a spouse to adopt her spouse's children without the termination of the natural parent's parental rights. When the adoption statutes were passed, it is unlikely they contemplated adoptions by same-sex partners. Thus, such adoptions were never specifi-cally prohibited nor specifically allowed.

Analysis:After the mother and her same-sex partner had lived together in a committed relationship for several years, the mother became pregnant by artificial insemination and gave birth to two children. The mother and her partner were raising the children together and wanted legal recognition of their status as co-parents. They filed an adoption proceeding, and the social workers that conducted the home study and the psychologist who evaluated the family concluded that the adoptions were in the best interests of the children.