New York’s Highest Court Expands Definition of Parenthood

Με...μια πολύ σημαντική απόφαση - ορόσημο,(link is external)το Ανώτατο Δικαστήριο της Νέας Υόρκης επέκτεινε την έννοια της ιδιότητας του γονέα (parenthood), αποφασίζοντας ότι ένα άτομο μπορεί να έχει δικαίωμα επιμέλειας ή επαφής με ένα τέκνο, ακόμα και αν δε συνδέεται με αυτό μέσω βιολογικής ή έννομης σχέσης, όπως ο γάμος, τεκνοθεσία κλπ.

διαβάστε στην απόφαση εδώ:  http://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/Decisions/2016/Aug16/91-92opn16-Decision.pdf

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Expanding the definition of what it means to be a parent, especially for same-sex couples, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a caretaker who is not related to, or the adoptive guardian of, a child could still be permitted to ask for custody and visitation rights.

The ruling emerged from a dispute between a gay couple from Chautauqua County, known in court papers only as Brooke S.B. and Elizabeth A. C.C.

Susan L. Sommer, Brooke’s lawyer and the national director of constitutional litigation at Lambda Legal, called the decision a “landmark in New York” and said it brought the state “into line with the mainstream in the United States in recognizing that children frequently have a second parent not related to them by blood, adoption or marriage.”

Ms. Sommer added, “The state’s highest court is recognizing the diversity of New York families and reversing a bitter precedent that has kept children from their parents.”

Brooke and Elizabeth began their relationship in 2006 and announced their engagement the following year, even though same-sex marriage was not permitted in New York at the time and they did not have the resources to travel to a state where it was allowed.

In 2008, Elizabeth became pregnant with their child through artificial insemination. Though Brooke had no legal or biological ties to the child, a boy, she maintained a close relationship with him for years, cutting his umbilical cord at birth, giving him her last name and raising him jointly with Elizabeth.

In 2010, the couple ended their relationship, court papers said, and three years later, Elizabeth tried to cut off Brooke’s contact with the boy. Brooke sued for custody and visitation privileges, but was turned down by a lower court, which found the lawsuit “heartbreaking,” but ruled nonetheless that legal precedent under a New York case called the Matter of Alison D. v.Virginia M. did not define a nonadoptive, nonbiological caretaker as a parent.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the appeals court overturned that earlier case, writing that “the definition of ‘parent’ established by this court 25 years ago in Alison D. has become unworkable when applied to increasingly varied familial relationships.” It further held that “where a partner shows by clear and convincing evidence that the parties agreed to conceive a child and to raise the child together, the nonbiological, nonadoptive partner has standing to seek visitation and custody.”

More broadly, the court noted that “Alison D.’s foundational premise of heterosexual parenting and nonrecognition of same-sex couples is unsustainable,” particularly in light of New York’s law allowing gay marriage, which was passed in 2011, and the United States Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year granting same-sex couples the right to marry.

“The court clearly heard us,” said Eric Wrubel, a lawyer who argued Brooke and Elizabeth’s case on behalf of the child, whose welfare was central in the appellate decision. “They clearly see that the bright lines of biology and adoption just don’t fit today with marriage equality. They understand that couples and families these days are not just mom and dad, and husband and wife.”

Elizabeth’s lawyer, Sheryl Bjork, could not be reached for comment.

The appeals court accompanied its ruling in the case of Brooke and Elizabeth with a decision in a similar dispute between a biological mother of a child who sued her former partner, the nonbiological mother, for child support. After paying child support, the nonbiological mother asked to be granted custody and visitation rights. The court agreed with her request.

Most states, including ones that often are considered conservative, like Oklahoma and South Carolina, already permit de facto parents to ask for custody and visitation rights. In bringing New York up to speed with many other states, the appeals court cited a growing body of social science research that, as it put it, “reveals the trauma children suffer as a result of separation from a primary attachment figure — such as a de facto parent — regardless of that figure’s biological or adoptive ties to the children.”

Nancy D. Polikoff, a professor at the American University Washington College of Law, said, “We’ve seen this all over the country, even in states that might be called gay unfriendly.”

“Many courts have simply said that this person looks like a parent and you cannot just eliminate them from the child’s life,” added Professor Polikoff, who has written briefs for similar cases in the past. “To have New York, where there are so many same-sex couples, be an outlier was a problem. But this catches New York up.”

πηγή : http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/31/nyregion/new-york-court-parental-rights.html?_r=0