Multiplying mommies and daddies

Before we redefine legal “parenthood” we need to know how this affects the best interests of children.
 James S. Cole
Monday, 15 November 2010

Recently the issues surrounding same-sex relationships in which children are involved have expanded from whether two persons of the same sex can be legally both mother and father to whether or not legal parenthood can include more than two persons.

In 2007, courts in several jurisdictions ruled that three persons could be legal parents of one child. In one of the cases, a lesbian couple separated in the course of raising two children who were conceived in the 1990s using donor sperm from a friend of one of the couple. The biological father continued to visit from time to time as a father, however, and he contributed voluntarily to the support of his children. When the lesbian couple broke up, custody was put in issue between the women, and child support was put in issue for the two noncustodial persons in the arrangement. The Pennsylvania appellate court ruled that in the circumstances, the trial court correctly found the birth mother was better fit for primary custody than her ex-partner. It further ruled that the father and ex-partner should have visitation rights and that the father and the ex-partner were obligated to pay child support. The best interests of the children would be furthered by this result, the Court wrote. the rest