Yesterday, March 7, 2016, the United States Supreme Court held that states must give full faith and credit to adoption decrees issued in other states.
The case, V.L. v. E.L., arose from an Alabama state Supreme Court decision that refused to acknowledge an adoption decree issued by a Georgia court.
The Georgia decree was a second parent order, granting parental rights to V.L., the female partner of E.L., the birth mother of three children conceived through assisted reproductive technology (ART). The parties later separated and E.L. denied V.L. access to the children. V.L. filed for custody. The Alabama Supreme Court held that V.L. did not have enforceable parental rights because Georgia did not have jurisdiction to issue the adoption decree. This decision was based on technicalities of Georgia state laws.
The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the Georgia court had authority to act on the parties’ adoption petition. Therefore the decree and the parental rights conferred must be honored. The case will now go back to Alabama for further action.
The practical result of the decision is that all couples, particularly gay couples, who build a family through ART and second-parent adoption are free to move to another state without fear that their parental rights may be challenged.
heARTbeat is a publication of KingSpry’s Adoption Law and Assisted Reproductive Technology Law Practice Group. It is meant to be informational and does not constitute legal advice.
