Published: Mar 25, 2021 04:45 PM
We Care, made up of families, legal advocates, and community organizations, and supported by the Yale Law School Clinic and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders as well as numerous child and family advocate organizations in the state, is looking to members of the state legislation to pass the Connecticut Parentage Act (CPA). This act would rectify a lack of parentage protection equality for children of different-sex and same-sex couples that currently exists in Connecticut.
This is the only New England state that does not protect the legal parenthood for all children of all parents. Turning our heads away from the fact that families are made up not only of male and female unions that produce offspring, but those headed by same-sex parents, parents who are not biological, unmarried parents, or families created through assisted reproduction prevents children from protection by a law that grants legal parent-child relationships — from the day they are born.
What loving parent wants to live with the dread that one day the person they love and who is the only one deemed a legal guardian dies, or divorce or separation compromise the family — and the possibility looms that their children could be taken away? An Acknowledgement of Parentage form currently exists for same-sex couples, granting a legal relationship between both parents and child without leaping through courtroom hoops. This should be available to all couples with children, regardless of how parenthood comes about. The removal of gender-specific language from these laws would help clarify legality, as well.
Every day, untraditional families harbor worries that no matter how much financial, physical, and mental support; no matter how much love they have bestowed on their children, both partners are legally not entitled to call their children their own. Every day, children under the age of 18 must live with the knowledge that only one of the two people they love, and who love them, is legally responsible for their welfare. Who better to understand a child’s educational needs, medical needs, and emotional needs than a person who has been an active participant in child rearing? That Connecticut fails to grant basic legal rights for children whose parental birth decision was not their own is unacceptable.
A hearing before the Connecticut Judiciary Committee in early March heard testimony from state residents who suffer from this lack of equity. It is time for Connecticut to rid itself of an antiquated status that does not promote children. Support for the CPA is our moral responsibility.
You can find a sample letter to send your legislators at https://law.yale.edu/studying-law-yale/clinical-and-experiential-learning/our-clinics/connecticut-parentage-act.
At the same address, you will find a link to a template for written testimony regarding the CPA, and one to a form where you can share your story.
By assuring that all children have equal rights under Connecticut law unnecessary legal entanglements and heartbreak can be avoided and children’s futures secured, no matter who they call “mother” or “father.”
A second editorial appears this week on page A9.
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