By Jennifer C. Pizer

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund An Advocate.com exclusive

Imagine this: You wake up one morning and your legal bond with your child is simply gone!

That’s exactly what would happen to lesbian and gay parents all over California if a San Diego appellate court has its way. A shocking decision issued by that court last week threatens to undermine thousands of California families in a way never before seen in family law.

The case, Sharon S. v. Superior Court, involved a dispute over a second- parent adoption, a procedure by which two unmarried adults—most often lesbian and gay couples—can both become legal parents to their children. For the past 15 years, trial courts in California have approved these adoptions. The California Department of Social Services has assisted by issuing gender- neutral forms and instructing its social workers not to discriminate. Between 10,000 and 20,000 California families have been made secure and reassured through this process, just like families in nearly two dozen other states across the country. And that number has been growing steadily. Though it started in California, second-parent adoption is now part of a strong national trend in favor of protecting children in all kinds of families— including those headed by lesbians and gay men.

Despite this well-established practice and its immense benefits for children, the San Diego court, ruling 2-1, gave California’s adoption law a peculiarly technical reading and declared that it does not permit these adoptions. The court went on to suggest not only that these adoptions may no longer be granted, but that those now in place—some of them for many years—may not be valid, at least if the parents don’t now register as domestic partners with the state of California and have their past adoptions “ratified” under the newly expanded domestic partner law.

Nowhere in the history of family law is there an example of a court undermining family relationships in this way. Imagine the reaction if a court attempted to void 15 years of civil marriages or 15 years of divorce decrees. Yet this deeply disturbing decision calls into question thousands and thousands of equally official parent-child bonds, and with no acknowledgment of the turmoil and distress that naturally result.

From the panicked calls we have been receiving at Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, we know the court’s disregard for our families and the alarm it has caused have inflicted enormous, inexcusable emotional injury. And the practical consequences, of course, could be devastating.

But this struggle is far from over. All adoptive relationships remain in force, and no family is in jeopardy at present. The appellate decision is not yet final, and there are important next steps in this litigation. Lambda Legal Defense is working closely with The National Center for Lesbian Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as private counsel for the nonbiological mother in this case, to develop a powerful, multi-part strategy for insisting that not one parent-child bond is severed.

The decision cries out for swift action by the California supreme court. The appellate panel was divided, with a clear, strong dissent. This, coupled with the sweeping, unprecedented nature of the ruling, and the large number of familial ties it purports to sunder, should inspire the high court to set the situation right. In the meantime, we urge families that might ultimately be affected not to overreact until the final chapter is written.

In addition to the litigation game plan, hope for some California families also lies with the state’s new domestic-partner law, which will take effect January 1 and specifically affirms the right of registered domestic partners to adopt each other’s children. But parents who cannot register as domestic partners—for example, due to the death of one parent, a relationship breakup, or the fact that they no longer live in California—could eventually face a legal dilemma. Anyone with an immediate legal problem should contact Lambda Legal Defense (in Los Angeles), NCLR, the ACLU, or their local gay and lesbian center.