Written by:
Gretchen Lee
Photographer:
Deb Lewallen, Curve's Lesbian Life Photo Contest
In a landmark decision expected to impact similar cases nationwide, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that the former partner of a lesbian mother is entitled to visitation with the twins she helped raise since birth.
"Courts are increasingly recognizing the changing face of families," says Eric Ferrero, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which argued the case as a friend-of-the-court. "This says that if you are raising children and you're not the biological parent, you still have rights.
" A key component of the case is the establishment of " psychological parenthood" between the non-biological parent and her child.
The court recognized several factors crucial to becoming a psychological parent. Among these are:
- the legal parent must consent to and foster the relationship between the psychological parent and the child
- the psychological parent must have lived with the child
- the psychological parent must perform functions for the child to a significant degree
- a parent-child bond must be forged.
This particular case granted visitation rights to a woman known as "V.C.", who had raised five-year-old twins with her former partner until 1996, when the couple broke up. The couple had begun dating in 1993, and subsequently purchased a home together and committed to one another in a religious ceremony. V.C.'s partner is the biological mother of the twins.
|
