KingSpry Partner and Adoption/ART Chair Dorota Gasienica-Kozak has been invited to present an update on “Non-Traditional Adoption in Pennsylvania” for the Monroe County Bar Association on Wednesday May 20, noon – 1pm, live and via Zoom.
“While the Commonwealth has long permitted individuals and same-sex couples to adopt, practitioners know that the path to securing parental rights often requires navigating multiple adoption avenues, including agency adoptions, private or independent placements, step-parent adoptions, and second-parent or confirmatory adoptions- each with its own procedural and strategic considerations,” Dorota notes.
“For LGBTQ+ families in particular, these mechanisms have historically served not just as pathways to parenthood, but as critical legal safeguards to ensure both parents are fully recognized under the law.”
Dorota and co-presenter Megan Reaser will discuss how recent legal developments are beginning to reshape that landscape. For example, in Glover v. Junior, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court endorsed an intent-based framework for establishing parentage, signaling a shift away from rigid biological and marital presumptions. At the same time, pending legislation- House Bill 350- aims to modernize Pennsylvania’s parentage laws by codifying multiple routes to legal parentage, including those arising from assisted reproduction and nontraditional family structures. Together, these developments raise critical questions for practitioners: how do the traditional types of adoption fit within this emerging framework, when are they still necessary, and how can attorneys best advise LGBTQ+ clients in a legal landscape that is actively changing beneath their feet?
Lunch provided for in person participants and 1 Substantive CLE credit is available for attorneys who complete the class. For more information, please email info2@monroebar.org or call 570.424.7288
