AdoptionBlogger.Com

Posthumous Conception - US Supreme Court To Hear Case

The Supreme Court of the United States will review a case involving social security benefits rights to surviving children conceived posthumously.

 

 

Article On 2011 Adoption Tax Credit

Here's a recent article on the adoption tax credit for 2011.

New Jersey: Conditional Veto To Birth Record Access

The Governor of New Jersey conditionally vetoed a bill that would have provided adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates.  The conditional veto was deemed necessary because it lacked a confidential intermediary who could be utilized to track down the birthmother to decide whether or not she wanted her identity revealed to the adult adoptee.

 

New Jersey: Grandparents May Be Able To Request Visitation When Adoptive Parents And Birthparents Are Related

A just released opinion (Download A0938-10) indicates that grandparents may be able to seek visitation in adoptions where the adoptive parents and biological parents are related.

This opinion does not disturb a previous court opinion that held that grandparents cannot seek visitation in cases where the child is adopted by non-biological relatives.

New Jersey: Sperm Donor Cannot Contract Away The Termination of His Parental Rights

A New Jersey woman conceived a child with a friend's donated sperm and turkey baster.  After conception and again after birth, both parties sought to contractually agree to terminate the sperm donor's parental rights.  

The Court's Decision denied their request absent the mother having a second person adopt the child.  Instead, the child today has only one legal parent - the mother - and the court left open the possibility for the biological father to assert his parental rights in the future.

It should be noted that there is a statutory way for a sperm donor to donate sperm in New Jersey without having parental rights attached to the child or children conceived; however, the above fact pattern did not meet the statutory requirements.

 

Birth Certificates

Adult adoptee groups nationwide are seeking access to their original birth certificates through legislation.  

The main opponents are religious groups concerned that pregnant women will consider abortion over adoption if their identity could later be revealed.  

Another concern is that the bill does not only address future adoptions, but would also unseal information from adoptions that occurred decades ago when the women who placed their children for adoption believed at the time that their identities would be protected.

 

 

New Jersey: Adult Adoptee Access to Birth Certificate Bill On Governor's Desk

A New Jersey bill allowing adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates is on the Governor's desk for consideration.

New Jersey: Intended (Non-Biological) Mother/Wife Must Adopt Husband's Biological Child

Many times families that use medical advances to conceive a child find the idea of adopting their intended child repugnant.  They desire, instead, to have the state legally recognize them as parents without undergoing an adoption. 

In 1983, the State of New Jersey enacted a statute that created a process to allow a non-biological father to become a legal/natural father without adoption when his wife conceived a child through donor sperm and artificial insemination.  If structured correctly, the non-biological father could be considered the legal/natural father of his wife's child without having to adopt his wife's biological child.  Since this statute's creation, medical advances and case law have permitted parties to create families and receive legal recognition without adoption in three distinct ways:

1.  A husband whose wife is artificially inseminated with donor sperm can be recognized as a legal father without an adoption (see NJS 9:17-44);

2.  A married couple who provide their own egg and sperm to create an embryo transferred to a gestational carrier may be recognized as the legal mother and legal father without an adoption [see A.H.W. v. G.H.B, 339 N.J. Super. 496 (Ch. Div. 2000)]; and

3.  A lesbian couple who use donor sperm to artificially inseminate one of the partners may have the non-biological parent equally recognized as the legal parent of the child without an adoption [see In re Robinson, 383 N.J. Super. 165 (Ch. Div. 2005)].

Yesterday's appellate court decision rejected a fourth way to create a legal parent without an adoption.  In In The Matter of the Parentage of a Child by T.J.S. and A.L.S., Docket No. A-4784-09T4, decided on February 23, 2011, an embryo created with a husband's sperm and a donor egg was implanted into a gestational carrier.  The intended parents (husband and wife) then tried to obtain legal recognition of the husband's wife as the legal mother without having the husband's wife legally adopt her husband's biological child.  The appellate division recognized the three examples provided above (husband, married couple, and lesbian couple), but rejected its application in this case. The distinguished characteristic was that the husband's wife was not a biological parent - it was not her egg. 

There are other states that treat intended mothers as legal mothers without adoption.  However, the Court refused to overreach into the legislative field to expand existing law.   

http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/opinions/a4784-09.pdf

UPDATE:  Reaction Story on TV News