Indiana Family Lawyer Blog
Adoption is an excellent form of creating a family for those affected by infertility. This post focuses specifically on foster care adoption. There are more than 110,000 children in the foster care system, but nearly 20,000 of these children will never find their adoptive home according to the US Foster Care System. Rita Soronen, the chief executive of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, states, “Foster care adoption hasn’t always been an easy conversation, but all of us in the child welfare stratosphere have tried to educate the public to change misconceptions about foster care.” This awareness effort seems to be paying off, because according to the 2017 US Adoption Attitudes Survey, nearly 80% of people looking to adopt for the first time would consider a child in foster care, which is 7% more than in 2012. Denise Henderson, a single mom who adopted through the foster care system, says, “My daughter came to live with us as a newborn. It took three long years before the courts freed her for adoption. The weight that lifted off me in that moment was incredible.” This is a similar story for many parents who adopt through the foster system. The adoption process may be lengthy at times as it is conducted through the juvenile court systems, but is very rewarding in the end and makes a huge difference in children’s lives.
There are many organizations working toward making the process easier by placing children in homes that are best suited for them and making the transition easier for them. One organization in Indiana, Children’s Bureau, has helped more than 46,000 children and families since 2014. The Villages, another foster agency, serves more than 3,000 kids a day across Indiana. For many parents the happiness that comes with adoption overcomes the struggles that often accompany the foster care system.
The attorneys of Harden Jackson Law are devoted to servicing clients in all areas of family law, including divorce, custody, child support, property division, paternity, post-divorce modifications, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, simple wills, adoption, surrogacy, and other areas of reproductive law. For more information, please contact us at 317.569.0770 or www.hardenjacksonlaw.com.
he Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments last week after the State of Indiana appealed a federal judge’s ruling that permitted same-sex couples to list both names on their child’s birth certificate. In June 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana issued a decision allowing the placement of both females in a same-sex marriage on their child’s birth certificate. Prior to this ruling, the State of Indiana permitted only the listing of a mother and a father on a birth certificate. As a result, in the case of female married same-sex couples, only the woman who carried the child could be listed as the child’s parent on the birth certificate. The child was considered born out of wedlock, and the spouse needed to adopt the child to become a legal parent. The Court held that Indiana’s refusal to recognize two mothers on a birth certificate violated the Due Process Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, because the State did not extend equal rights to married same-sex couples. After the decision was issued, the State of Indiana began placing both married same-sex parents’ names on their children’s birth certificates, which was a very progressive step that continues to provide a great benefit to our married same-sex clients. 
New York Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin have proposed a new bill, The Child Parent Security Act (“CSPA”), that would remove the ban on compensated surrogacy and provide a clear mechanism for intended parents legal rights to obtain legal rights to their child born through gestational surrogacy. When the requirements in the law are met, Intended parents can receive an “Order of Parentage” from a court which becomes effective immediately after birth of the child. Additionally, the bill would provide for the enforcement of contractual agreements between the gestational surrogate and the intended parents. The CSPA would significantly change surrogacy law in New York, which is one of only five states that where compensated surrogacy is illegal. 
In just a few short weeks, the Supreme Court of Iceland will rule on its first surrogacy case involving two women who wish to be recognized as the legal parents of their child born via gestational surrogacy. A U.S. surrogate carried the same-sex couple’s child, which was created using donor egg and sperm. The baby was born in 2013 and received a US passport and citizenship. The intended mothers established their legal parentage in the U.S., but things became complicated when the mothers tried to return to Iceland with the child. Surrogacy is illegal in Iceland, and when the mothers tried to register their child as an Icelandic citizen and themselves as the child’s legal parents, the National Registry of Iceland rejected the registration attempt. Although the child eventually received Icelandic citizenship and an identity number, the mothers sued the National Registry and the Icelandic State because they were only granted a fostering agreement rather than legal parentage.
Earlier this year, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld the Rockland District Court’s decision that found a de facto parentage relationship between Jessica Lisio’s two biological children and her transgender domestic partner, Tammy Thorndike. Lisio and Thorndike, who identifies as male, began a relationship and decided to have a child together. In 2009, Lisio and Thorndike registered as domestic partners and later Lisio gave birth to their daughter. Their relationship began to fall apart a few months later, but Thorndike and Lisio maintained their existing parental roles. Thorndike finally moved out and two years later, filed a complaint for a determination of paternity and parental rights and responsibilities, which Lisio opposed, arguing that Thorndike had no parental rights. The Court found that “
Shawnee County District court in Kansas issued a significant ruling in November 2016 concerning sperm donors’ responsibility for child support. William Marotta of Topeka, Kansas answered an ad on Craigslist to donate sperm to a same-sex couple, who used the sperm to have a child. The couple later separated and then reached out to the state Department for Children and Families for help when one of the mothers lost her job. The department then filed a suit claiming that Marotta wasn’t paying child support and sought to hold him liable for $6,100 in child support expenses since the child’s birth in December 2009.
