Adoption ruling cited as threat to families

The recent California Supreme Court decision to uphold “second-parent” adoptions has been hailed as a victory for homosexual couples, but some people see it as a step toward the further unraveling of the traditional family.

“This case has been reported by the media as an affirmation of homosexual adoption, but it actually goes far beyond that,” said Peter Sprigg, an analyst with the Family Research Council.

“It really opens the door for a complete restructuring of family relations,” he said, noting that one of the California justices wrote in her dissent that the Aug. 4 ruling virtually guarantees “new and even bizarre family structures.”

Homosexual rights proponents dismiss such objections as nonsense.

The California high court decision “is part of a very important growing recognition that it’s in the best interest of children to support and not undermine their family structures,” said Lisa Bennett of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest homosexual rights group.

“A decision like this solidifies and protects family relationships,” said Leslie Cooper of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “The notion that an opinion like this is detracting or unraveling the family is preposterous.”

The process won more support this month when leaders of the American Bar Association voted to support laws and court decisions that permit second-parent adoptions.

A second-parent adoption allows an unrelated adult to adopt a child even though the parent retains his or her parental rights. Adoptions typically require birth parents to give up their parental rights.

Second-parent adoptions were first promoted 20 years ago by leaders of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR).

More than 10,000 second-parent adoptions have taken place in more than 20 jurisdictions, including Maryland and the District, the NCLR reports.

Not all of these adoptions have gone smoothly, as the lawsuit, Sharon S. v. California Superior Court, makes clear.

The lawsuit was brought by Sharon S., the mother of a boy, against Annette F., her former lover. Annette was in the process of adopting the boy when Sharon withdrew her permission and blocked the adoption.

In 2001, a California appeals court sided with Sharon, saying that, except for stepparent adoptions during marriage, the law doesn’t allow for adoptions where consenting parents don’t relinquish all their parental rights.

The appellate decision sparked an outcry from homosexual rights groups and their allies that all other second-parent adoptions could be undone.

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