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Thursday, April 13, 2006

Ind. Decisions - Gay couple wins adoption appeal [Updated]

"Gay couple wins adoption appeal" is the headline to a brief story by Tim Evans posted on the Indianapolis Star website this afternoon about the Courts of Appeals ruling today in In the Matter of Infant Girl W v. Morgan County FCS (see ILB entry here, or just scroll down three). From the Star:

In a split-decision today, the Indiana Court of Appeals quashed a Morgan County judge's efforts to halt the adoption of an infant girl by a same-sex couple.

The court ruled that a Marion County probate court which approved the adoption by two Morgan county women, who have been in a committed relationship for more than 10 years, had the authority to make the decision.

Attorneys for the state had argued the Morgan County court should have had jurisdiction in the case. The adoption was not challenged on the basis of the women's sexual orientation; rather that Indiana law prohibits simultaneous adoption by two unmarried individuals.

See also the Advance Indiana analysis of today's decision.

[Update] Mike Smith of the AP reports:

Unmarried couples, including those of the same sex, can adopt a child through a joint petition that gives both partners equal custody simultaneously, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

The 2-1 ruling involved a lesbian couple from Morgan County whose attempt to adopt an infant girl was approved by a judge in one county but denied by a judge in another.

The decision overturned a ruling by Morgan Circuit Court Judge Matthew Hanson, who opposed the joint petition of Becki Hamilton and Kim Brennan because he said Indiana law limits adoption to married couples and individuals. State law prohibits same-sex marriages.

The appeals court said state law requires married persons seeking adoption to petition jointly.

"But it does not follow that in placing this requirement upon a married couple, the legislature was simultaneously denying an unmarried couple the right to petition jointly," the ruling said. * * *

The appeals court noted that his decision had nothing to do with Hamilton and Brennan as a same-sex couple but with being unmarried. * * *

Judge Edward Najam, who dissented in Thursday's ruling, said the General Assembly amended a law last year to say that adoption by a second parent divests the previous adoptive parent of his or her parental rights if the two are not married.

Najam said that precluded sequential adoptions by an unmarried couple, and, "It must follow that the legislature also intended to preclude unmarried couples from filing joint petitions to adopt."

The majority opinion written by Judge John Baker disagreed.

"The simple truth ... is that the legislature has not amended the Adoption Act to affect, in any way, the ability of an unmarried couple to file a joint petition to adopt. The statute is silent on that," Baker wrote.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 13, 2006 04:45 PM
Posted to Ind. App.Ct. Decisions