Maine court upholds IBM heir’s adoption of lover

By The Associated Press

07.24.2009 1:23pm EDT

(Portland, Maine) Maine’s highest court has given a legal victory to a woman who stands to stake a claim to a share of one of America’s premier business fortunes thanks to her adoption by her lesbian partner.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday overturned a 2008 lower court decision that annulled the adoption.

At issue was whether it was legal for a judge to allow Olive Watson to adopt Patricia Spado in 1991 in Knox County, where the longtime partners spent several weeks each summer on North Haven. Watson was the daughter of the late Thomas Watson Jr., who built IBM into a computer giant.

The relationship ended a year after the adoption. Thomas Watson’s heirs challenged the adoption in court in 2005.

Lawyers say the case now moves to a Connecticut probate court to determine if Spado is entitled to any of the family trust.

in Adoption / In the News / Legal  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Florida governor shows signs of changing views on gay adoption ban


By 365gay Newswire
07.23.2009 3:30pm EDT

(Florida) While answering reporter questions in Tallahassee, Florida Governor Charlie Crist indicated that he might consider legislation to change a law that prevents same sex couples from adopting.

When questioned whether he would support changes to the law, Gov. Crist told reporters, “I’d have to think about it.”

Three hours later, however, Gov. Crist reaffirmed his support for “traditional families” only to adopt while speaking at an event in Jacksonville as a part of his statewide tour for “Explore Adoption Day.”

In 1977, Florida passed a law that made it the only state in the country to ban gay adaption. The American Civil Liberties Union is currently suing to have the law overturned. ACLU and other groups believe that preventing gay adoption prevents some children from being adopted.

“Excluding a class of people is harmful to children, particularly those in our state who have had gay foster parents,” ACLU spokesman Larry Spalding told The Associated Press.

in Adoption / In the News / Legal  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Miami judge who struck gay adoption ban demoted

By The Associated Press
07.14.2009 2:34pm EDT

(Miami) A Miami-Dade circuit court judge who ruled Florida’s gay adoption ban is unconstitutional has been demoted.

Judge Cindy Lederman has been removed from her 15-year post as top administrative judge over Miami-Dade’s juvenile courts. The new chief justice over Miami courts says he wanted new perspectives and leadership.

Lederman ruled in November 2008 that Florida’s gay adoption ban was unconstitutional, a case now on appeal. She also oversaw numerous juvenile justice programs in Miami and publicly scolded state officials in 2002 following the disappearance of 5-year-old foster child Rilya Wilson.

The new top judge in Miami’s juvenile courts is Orlando Prescott. Lederman will remain a juvenile court judge and says she respects the decision.

in Adoption / In the News  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Colorado gay couples OK’d to adopt. New legislation allows joint adoption of children by unmarried couples.

Tue, 05/15/2007 – 9:36am by Community Editor @ ProudParenting.com

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter recently signed legislation that allows same-sex couples to adopt.

The Colorado Springs Gazette.com reports that House Bill 1330 by Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder, allows the joint adoption of children by unmarried couples, including gays and lesbians, unmarried heterosexual partners and relatives seeking to help single mothers.

Colorado becomes the 10th state in the country to allow such second-parent adoption.

in Adoption / In the News / Second Parent Adoption  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Birth certificates to reflect New York state gay-marriage move

Sat, 12/13/2008 – 12:29pm by Jeff of ProudParenting.com

The AP reports that New York state officials will now let married same-sex couples list both their names on their children’s birth certificates.

The decision, which echoes similar provisions in states that allow gay marriages or civil unions, is one of many changes since Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies in May to respect out-of-state gay marriages.

The state Health Department said Friday it had agreed to the change, which came after a lesbian couple who are expecting a baby filed a lawsuit. The change would apply statewide except in New York City, which is considering revamping its own birth certificate forms to accommodate same-sex couples.

Under state law, a woman’s husband is automatically deemed a parent of a child the pair conceives through artificial insemination, whether or not he is the genetic father. Gay couples have complained about having to jump through legal hoops to secure equivalent parental rights.

Carolyn Trzeciak and Nina Sheldon Trzeciak of Ulster County, who got married in Canada in 2006, sued last month. Nina Sheldon Trzeciak is carrying their first child, conceived through in vitro fertilization.

The couple argued they both should be designated as parents under Paterson’s directive. The governor told state agencies to make sure policies and regulations treat married same-sex couples equally, saying a recent court ruling suggests they would otherwise risk discrimination claims.

Gay couples may be able to secure a second parent’s rights through adoption. But having their names on a child’s birth certificate immediately gives both spouses such rights as nursery visits and information on the child’s medical condition, the lawsuit said.

“That gives them equal treatment,” said the Trzeciaks’ lawyer, Melissa B. Brisman of Park Ridge, N.J.

The Health Department said in a statement that it had been exploring how to apply Paterson’s directive to birth certificates for some time but arranged a quick resolution for the couple because the baby was due Friday.

Massachusetts is now the only U.S. state that allows gay marriages; California briefly did until voters banned it last month. Some other states let same-sex couples enter into civil unions that offer some of marriage’s legal advantages.

States that allow gay marriage or civil unions have made provisions for birth certificates to list both partners’ names, said Susan Sommer, senior counsel for the gay rights advocacy group Lambda Legal. It was not involved in the Trzeciak case.

While the group urges couples to cement both parents’ rights through an adoption or other court order, Sommer said getting the names of both parents on the birth certificate is a great help to the children.

The Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz., is challenging various attempts to extend spousal rights to gay couples in New York. In September, a Bronx judge threw out the group’s challenge to Paterson’s directive; the organization is appealing.

The alliance argues that only the Legislature, not the governor, has authority to recognize out-of-state gay marriages.

in Adoption / Estate Planning / Second Parent Adoption  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

How many singles seek to adopt?

 

  1. •According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 33% of children adoption from Foster Care is by a single parent (U.S. DHHS, 2000).

  2. •Research in the 1970s found that an estimated .5% to 4% of persons completing adoptions were single. Studies in the 1980s found from 8% to 34% of adopters were single. (Stolley, 1993)

  3. •Across the country the number of single parent placements slowly and steadily continues toincrease, both in domestic and intercountry adoption.(Feigelman and Silverman, 1993)

 

who are they?

  1. •Most single adoptive parents are female, are most likely to adopt older children than infants, and are less likely to have been a foster parent to the adopted child (Stolley, 1993)

  2. •Single parent applicants are self-selective. Most applicants have high levels of emotional maturity and high capacity for frustration, and are independent but linked to a supportive network of relatives. (Branham, 1970)

  3. •As a group, the single parent adopters of U.S. children tended to adopt “special needs” children who were older, minority, and/or handicapped children. (Feigelman and Silverman, 1997)

 

what research has been conducted?

  1. •In a study undertaken by the Los Angeles Department of Adoptions, researchers found that single parents tended to havemore difficulties in completing their adoptions. Thirty-nine percent had made three or more previous attempts to adopt, compared to only 18 percent among the couples. (Feigelman and Silverman, 1997)

  2. •In 1983, Feigelman and Silverman recontacted 60% of the single-parent respondents from their earlier study in 1977. Six years after the initial study, the adjustment of children raised by single parents remained similar to that of children raised by adoptive couples. (Groze and Rosenthal, 1991)

  3. •Groze and Rosenthal conducted a study that reports on the responses from parents in three midwestern states who had finalized their adoption of a special-needs child before 1988. The sample included 122 single-parents and 651 two-parent families. Researchers found that comparisons of single-parent homes to two-parent homes showed that children in single-parent families experienced fewer problems. (Groze and Rosenthal, 1991)

  4. •In the same study, research found that single-parent families were more likely than two-parent families to evaluate the adoption’s impact as being very positive. (Groze and Rosenthal, 1991)

 

bibliography

Branham, E. (1970). One-parent adoptions. Children, 17(3), 103-107.

Feigelman, W. and Silverman, A.R. (1997). Single parent adoption. In:The Handbook for Single Adoptive Parents, Chevy Chase, MD: National Council for Single Adoptive Parents. 123-129.

Groze, V.K. and Rosenthal, J.A. (1991). Single parents and their adopted children: a psychosocial analysis. The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 130-139.

Stolley, K.S. (1993). Statistics on adoption in the United States. The Future of Children: Adoption, 3(1), 26-42.

Credits: Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov)

http://statistics.adoption.com/information/adoption-statistics-single-parents.html

in Adoption  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Adoption Terminology

Whether you are a prospective biological parent or prospective adoptive parent exploring adoption, you will encounter many terms with which you may not be familiar.  We have set forth below some of the more frequently used adoption terminology.  We have also included “positive” adoption language so that in the event you choose adoption, you will help to reinforce right from the beginning that adoption is a loving choice for biological parents and an acceptable way for adoptive parent to create their family.

TERMS
Adoptee – A person who joins a family by adoption.

Adoption – A permanent, legally binding arrangement whereby persons other than the biological parents parent the child.

Adoption Agency – An organization that is licensed by a particular state to educate and prepare families to adopt children and to do all the necessary legal, administrative and social work to ensure that adoptions are in the best interests of the children.

Adoption Order – The document issued by the court upon finalization of an adoption, stating that the adoptee is the legal child of the adoptive parents.

Adoption Plan – The unique, individual plan a particular set of biological parents makes for the adoption of their child.

Adoptive Parent(s) – A person or persons who become the permanent parents with all the social, legal rights and responsibilities incumbent upon any parent.

Birth certificate – When a child is born a certified document indicates the birth information of a person including mother’s and father’s name and the name given to the child at the time of birth.  Once the adoption is finalized, the original birth certificate is amended reflecting the adoptive parents as the child’s parents and the original birth certificate is sealed and in many states remains confidential.

Birth father – The biological father of a child.

Birth grandparents – The biological grandparents of a child.

Birth mother – The biological mother of a child who made an adoption plan for the child and subsequently relinquished the child for adoption.

Birth parents – The parents who conceived a child, made an adoption plan for the child and subsequently relinquished their parental rights to the child and created an adoption plan.   Also referred to as the biological parents.

Confidential Adoption – An adoption where there is no contact between biological parents and adoptive parents.  Sometimes referred to as a closed adoption.

Domestic Adoption – An adoption that involves adoptive parents and a child that are permanent residents of the United States.

Employer Adoption Benefit Package – Adoption benefits provided to employees as part of an employer-sponsored benefit program, which are included within their employment compensation package.

Facilitator – An individual that is not licensed as an adoption agency or licensed as an attorney, and who is engaged in the matching of biological parents with adoptive parents. 

Finalization – The court hearing that results in the adoption order. This is the moment when the adoptee becomes the permanent, legally adopted child of the adoptive parents. 

Homestudy – A three-part process required before a child can be placed with a family for foster care or adoption: (1) Written portion includes autobiographies, references, medical reports, financial statements, child abuse and criminal clearances and other written materials; (2) Social work process includes a series of visits in the applicants’ home to discuss a variety of issues from the applicants’ backgrounds to their motivations to adopt and their understanding of adoption and parenting; (3) Educational process includes training in adoption and parenting issues. The end result of this process is a written document completed by a licensed agency giving a summary of the applicants’ family life. This document indicates approval of the applicants for adoption. In most states it must be updated annually.

Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) – If a child is born in a state other than where the prospective adoptive parents reside, the Interstate Compact of both the baby’s home state and the prospective adoptive parents’ home state must give their approval before the child travels (for the purpose of adoption) to the state where the prospective adoptive parents reside. In an interstate adoption, the agency with custody of the child is responsible for processing the interstate paperwork.

Match or Matching – The process of bringing together qualified prospective adoptive parents and willing biological parents, who by choice choose to explore the compatibility of each other and who can agree on the terms under which the adoptive parents can adopt the child. 

Open Adoption – An open adoption is full disclosure of identifying information between the biological parents and the adoptive parents. Both the adoptive parents and biological parents agree upon the amount of contact following the placement of the child.

Placement – A term used to describe the point in time when the child comes to live with the adoptive parents in their home.

Revocation of Consent – When a biological parent revokes the consent they had signed to an adoption and requests that the child be returned to his/her custody.

Semi-Open Adoption – A semi-open adoption occurs when the potential biological mother or biological families experience non-identifying interaction with the adoptive family. In most cases, the interaction is facilitated by a third party who is usually an adoption agency or adoption attorney.

Surrender – The legal document signed by the biological parents in which they place their child with an adoption agency who in turn places the child with the adoptive family that the biological parents choose.

Tax Credit (Adoption) – A tax credit for qualifying expenses paid to adopt an eligible child. The adoption credit is an amount subtracted from the adoptive parents’ tax liability.

in Adoption  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Fla. Bar support in gay adoption case upheld

By The Associated Press

06.04.2009 1:34pm EDT

(Tallahassee, Fl.)  The state Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to the Florida Bar’s right to oppose the state’s ban on gay adoption.

Liberty Counsel, a faith-based legal group, had asked the high court to prohibit the bar’s Family Law Section from filing a friend of the court brief in an appellate court that was considering Florida’s ban of adoptions by homosexuals. The justices ruled 5-2 in the case on Thursday.

The bar brief supported a trial judge’s ruling that declared the ban unconstitutional. That decision is on appeal to the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami.

The high court majority ruled Liberty Counsel failed to show the brief violated its constitutional rights or that the bar broke its own rules.

in Adoption / Legal  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Introducing the Family Leave Insurance Act 2009

Mon, 05/04/2009 – 7:12am by Jeff

Source: Proud Parenting

The Family Leave Insurance Act of 2009 [H.R. 1723], introduced on March 25 by four House Democrats, would amend the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave benefits to workers who need to care for an ill family member or new child, or to treat their own illness. Along with its paid leave provisions, which CCH says drew the most attention, H.R. 1723 also would amend the Act to grant FMLA leave to employees who need to care for an ill domestic partner or the child of a domestic partner – thereby affording the protections of the FMLA to GLBT employees.

Currently, the FMLA does not require employers to provide leave to care for a same-sex partner or spouse, because federal law does not recognize same-sex relationships. In addition, it is unclear whether, in every instance, the FMLA would cover the child of a same-sex partner or spouse if the employee is not the child’s legal parent. Employers are not mandated by the FMLA to provide an employee leave for the birth and care of a child to which an employee is not a legal parent unless a local court determines it to be so.

in Adoption / In the News / Legal / Legislation / Parenting / Surrogacy  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Finding Perspective Parents

Hello,

If you are looking to place your child or know someone who is, please pass this along. We have dreamed of beginning this process and are ready to create a loving home for your child.  Ricky, adopted at age 1 & 1/2, understands how important being placed with a loving and caring family is and we are ready to give that wonderful gift back. We are choosing an open adoption for many reasons.  We know it is important to have adoption questions answered in a truthful and honest manner when dealing with an adopted child.  This has given Ricky acceptance, understanding, growth and maturity growing up. We wish the same for your child and look forward to making the openness work for the level you are most comfortable with.
Adoption: It’s About Love
We are excited to build our forever family through adoption.
It is an honor for us to share our family with you.
Please feel free to call our agency or email.
We would love to hear from you!
Sincerely, Anthony & Ricky
Open & Loving Adoptive Parents
VIEW OUR PRINTABLE PROFILE:
http://www.friendsinadoption.org/fia_waiting_family_profiles/ricky_anthony.pdf
Become a member of our Facebook Fan Page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Future-Together-Through-Adoption/55485353785?ref=share

Call our agency toll-free at 1-800-844-3630
Agency Email: fia@friendsinadoption.org Our Email: AFutureTogether@me.com
Website: www.AFutureTogether.com

——————————————————————————————————————————

Optional places to distribute adoption cards:
• Grocery Stores • Gas Stations
• Hair Stylists • Nail Salons
• Physicians • OBGYN
• Restrooms • Rest Stops
• Unitarian / Churches • Social Workers
• Community Leaders • Community Centers
• Community Festivals • Bulletin Boards
• College Campus • Planned Parenthood Organizations
• Family Planning Centers • Gym
• Libraries • Business Card ‘Free Drawing’ Bowls
• Telephone Booths • Networking Events
• Hospitals • YWCA / YMCA
• Free Health Clinics • Low income housing boards
• Laundromats • Shelters: Women’s / Homeless
• Senior Citizen Centers • Utility Bills
• Coffee Shops
Other places to spread the word:
• Family / Friends / Co-workers
• Adoption Website
• www.parentgallery.com
• Facebook / Fan Page
• YouTube
• Craig’s List
• Holiday / Family Newsletters
• Birthday or Anniversary Cards

in Adoption / Issue Forum / Personal Stories  by Anthony Brown 0 comments