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Gay and Lesbian Parenting, Legal Aspects of
Numerous legal issues confront families headed by homosexual parents. These concerns are not encountered by heterosexual parents, in large part because of legal protections that allow heterosexual couples more ease in the process of becoming and being parents. While a small number of state and local governments have instituted nondiscrimination legislation, currently no overarching federal protections or civil rights exist for homosexuals in the United States. Individual states have different legislation, and within states and jurisdictions individual judicial decisions are often contradictory, thus leaving the lesbian or gay couple to navigate the legal system for answers to questions regarding family life.
The legal obstacles facing families headed by lesbians or gays primarily stem from the fact that their relationships are not legally recognized. The state of legal matrimony grants heterosexual couples many legal benefits. Both parents of children in a heterosexual union automatically have legal guardianship of their children. If assisted reproduction is utilized and sperm or egg donation is employed, the husband or wife in the marriage does not have to adopt the child even if they have no biological tie to the child. Adoption is available for heterosexual parents in every state. Marriage affords the heterosexual partnership an ease with which to navigate the legal system in issues pertaining to making medical decisions for a partner, the inheritance of property of a deceased partner, employment and health insurance benefits for a partner and children, or, in the event of a separation and/or divorce, laws provide guidance with respect to division of property, child support, and child custody. Numerous federal benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits or income and estate tax benefits, provided for the heterosexual couple are denied the homosexual couple. Civil union and domestic partnership legislation provides some of these rights and protections to the homosexual couple, but the vast majority of states lack this legislation. In 2003, 44 states continue to deprive gay and lesbian couples of these rights and ultimately sentence the children of these unions to what could be called “legal single parenthood”—only one parent has the legal right to spend time with the child and make decisions about the child's well-being.
How is the Family Formed?
Previous Heterosexual Relationship
In large part, the legal obstacles parents face stem from the manner in which the family is formed. For example, the primary concerns for lesbian or gay parents who became parents as the result of a previous heterosexual relationship are custody and visitation. When parents disagree, custody decisions are typically decided on the basis of the evidence a judge decides to consider and the judge's right to determine what is “in the best interest of the child.” Lesbian and gay parents have been consistently denied custody and visitation on the basis of their sexual orientation, although, increasingly, states require dueling parents to demonstrate an “adverse effect”—parents must show how the actual behavior of a parent has affected the child. Expert witnesses tend to play key roles in these custody cases.
Foster Care and Adoption
Like all other issues facing lesbian and gay families, the legal right of gay and lesbian parents to foster and adopt children varies from state to state. Seeking parenthood as an individual or as a couple also affects their legal rights (typically single parents are afforded more rights). Interestingly, some states explicitly prohibit gay or lesbian parents from adopting children but permit them to foster children.
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- Adolescent Development
- Abstinence in Adolescence
- Adolescence and Thriving
- Adolescence, Current Trends and Research About
- Adolescent Females, Physical Activity
- Adolescent Parents, Programs and Policies for
- Adolescent Pregnancy and Births
- Adolescent Sexuality
- Adolescents, at Risk
- Adolescents, Consent and Refusal of Treatment
- Alcohol Use and Disorders Among Youth
- Alcohol, Tobacco, and Drug Use, Media Education for Adolescents
- Asthma in Adolescence
- Athletic Participation and Girls' Development
- Cancer Patients, Adolescent Consent to Research
- Cigarette Smoking in Adolescents
- Dating in Adolescence
- Decision Making Among Adolescents
- Delinquency
- Depression in Adolescence
- Ethnic Identity Development in Minority Adolescents
- Gender Intensification
- HIV Prevention in Young Adults
- Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth
- Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth, Sexual Development
- Menarche
- Parenting in Adolescence
- Positive Youth Development, Service-Learning Versus Community Collaborative Models
- Puberty
- Religiosity and Resilience in Adolescence
- Resiliency in Adolescence
- Sexuality, Adolescents' Development of
- Silbereisen, Rainer K.
- Social Support, Urban Adolescents
- Stimulants, Adolescent Use of
- Youth Civic/Political Development
- Youth Development Professionals
- Youth Development Programs, Essential Elements of
- Youth Mentoring
- Youth-Adult Partnerships
- ADS Training and Education
- Education and Applied Developmental Science
- Planning and Evaluation Resource Center (PERC)
- Positive Development
- Training in Applied Developmental Science
- Yale University, Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy
- Youth Development as a Public Idea
- Youth Development Professionals
- Youth Development Programs, Essential Elements of
- Adult Development
- Adult Development, Definition, Culture, and Applications
- Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adults
- Chronic Disability in Old Age
- Depression in Later Life
- Depression, Maternal
- Family Caregiving for Elders
- Marriage and Family Therapy
- Mental Health in Later Life, Ecology of
- Mental Retardation, Sociocontextual Influences in Adulthood
- Old Age
- Psychoanalysis in Adults, Theory and Technique
- Sensory Impairment, Aging
- Social Support in Old Age
- Special Education, Transition From School to Young Adulthood
- Spiritual and Religious Coping in Later Life
- Transition in Adulthood
- Transition to College
- Vision Impairment, Late Life Adjustment and Rehabilitation
- Biographies of Applied Developmental Scientists
- Ames, Louise Bates
- Anastasi, Anne
- Benson, Peter L.
- Blum, Robert W.
- Bornstein, Marc H.
- Bronfenbrenner, Urie
- Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne
- Côté, James E.
- Cauce, Ana Mari
- Ceci, Stephen J.
- Chase-Lansdale, P. Lindsay
- Damon, William
- Eccles, Jacquelynne, and the Expectancy-Value Model of Achievement Choice
- Eisenberg, Nancy
- Elkind, David
- Farrington, David P.
- Fisher, Celia B.
- Flanagan, Constance A.
- Floyd, Donald T., Jr.
- Freud, Anna
- Freud, Sigmund
- Gardner, Howard
- Gesell, Arnold Lucius
- Hagen, John William
- Hall, G. Stanley
- Helms, Janet E.
- Horowitz, Frances Degen
- Jacobs, Francine
- Khoo, Kim Choo
- Lamb, Michael
- Lerner, Jacqueline V.
- Lerner, Richard M.
- Lipsitt, Lewis P.
- Little, Rick R.
- Meisels, Samuel J.
- Montessori, Maria
- Moore, Kristin
- Mussen, Paul H.
- Osofsky, Joy Doniger
- Overton, Willis F.
- Petersen, Anne C.
- Phinney, Jean S.
- Piaget, Jean
- Pittman, Karen J.
- Rhodes, Jean
- Savin-Williams, Ritch C.
- Seligman, Martin E. P.
- Sherrod, Lonnie R.
- Silbereisen, Rainer K.
- Smyer, Michael A.
- Spanier, Graham B.
- Terman, Lewis M.
- Watson, John B.
- Weinberg, Richard A.
- Wertlieb, Donald
- Wheeler, Wendy
- Windle, Michael
- Youniss, James
- Child Development
- Advertising, Effects on Children
- Alcoholism Prevention Programs for Children
- Anxiety Disorders in Children
- Bipolar Disorder in Children
- Cancer, Psychosocial Dimensions of
- Child Abuse, Religion-Related
- Child Care Centers, an International Perspective
- Child Care, Infant and Toddler
- Child Development Across Cultures
- Child Labor
- Children's Reading Comprehension
- Conflict and Conflict Resolution in Early Childhood
- Day Care, Effects on Child Development
- Day Care, Measuring Quality of Care
- Domestic Violence, Child Exposure to
- Early Childhood Care, Development, and Education in Asia
- Early Childhood Education in Turkey
- Feeding Disorders, Childhood
- Giftedness in African American Children
- Incarcerated Mothers, Children of
- Mastery Motivation, Preschool and Early Childhood
- Media and Children's Fears
- Obesity, Pediatric
- Obesity, Prevention in Childhood
- Pediatric Psychology
- Peer Play in Early Childhood
- Perceptual Development, Childhood
- Play, Nonsocial, and Social-Emotional Development in Childhood
- Prejudice in Childhood
- Psychotropic Medications
- Siblinghood, Transitions to
- Sports and Positive Youth Development
- Sports/Athletics, Children and
- Street Children
- Television, Children's Processing of
- Toddlerhood
- Visual Impairment Across the Life Span
- Women, Infants, and Children, Special Supplemental Food Program for
- Civic Engagement
- Advocacy, Child
- Civic Engagement
- Community Involvement
- Just-World Beliefs, Development of
- Mentoring
- Political Engagement
- Positive Youth Development, Service-Learning Versus Community-Collaborative Models
- Public Policy and Human Development
- Service Learning
- Youth Civic/Political Development
- Youth-Adult Partnerships
- Culture and Diversity
- Asian Americans, a Term in Transition
- Acculturation
- Acculturation Stress
- Achievement in Mathematics, Gender and Ethnic Differences
- African American Youth Development, Cultural Influences
- African Culture, Human Ontogenesis Within
- African Family Traditions, Education and
- Asian American Families and Youth
- Assessment, Cultural Validity of
- Bilingualism, International
- Child Care Centers, an International Perspective
- Child Development Across Cultures
- Community-Based Research Ethics
- Culture and Health
- Culture and Human Development
- Developmental Contextualism and Cultural Adjustment of Immigrant Children
- Early Childhood Care, Development, and Education in Asia
- Early Childhood Education in Turkey
- Ethical Issues in Cross-Cultural Research
- Ethnic Gloss
- Ethnic Identity
- Ethnic Identity Development in Minority Adolescents
- Ethnicity and Race, Understanding of
- Ethnography
- Immigrant Families, European
- Immigrants, Acculturation of
- Juvenile Justice, Racial Differences
- Native Alaskan Tribes
- Parenting, Chinese Families and
- Refugees
- Religion and Applied Developmental Science
- Street Children
- Youth Culture, Hip-hop
- Development-Promoting Interventions
- Adolescent Parents, Programs and Policies for
- Alcoholism Prevention Programs for Children
- Infants, Intervention for Premature
- Intervention Programs, Web-Based
- Mediated Learning Experience
- Social Skills Training and Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD)
- Supervision
- Thinking, Education for
- Transfer of Knowledge, Child Education About the Real World
- Women, Infants, and Children, Special Supplemental Food Program for
- Youth Mentoring
- Developmental Assessment
- Developmental Disorders
- Anorexia Nervosa
- Anxiety Disorders in Children
- Autism, Educational Treatments for
- Autistic Spectrum Disorders
- Bipolar Disorder
- Bipolar Disorder in Children
- Bulimia Nervosa
- Celiac Disease
- Clinical Significance
- Conduct Disorders
- Depression in Adolescence
- Developmental Disabilities
- Externalizing Behavior Problems
- Feeding Disorders, Childhood
- Gastrointestinal Disorders, Developmental Aspects of
- Mental Illness, Serotonin, and Genetics
- Mental Retardation
- Phobias, Childhood
- Postpartum Depression
- Developmental Processes
- Adaptation
- Adaptive Behavior
- Adolescence and Thriving
- Body Size and Image, Female Attitudes and Perceptions About
- Body Size, Societal Views of
- Career Development
- Children's Reading Comprehension
- Cognitive Development
- Cognitive Skills and Aging
- Cortisol and Stress
- Critical-Period Hypothesis
- Decision Making Among Adolescents
- Developmental Assets
- Egocentrism, Elkind's Contribution to Piagetian Theory
- Ethnicity and Race, Understanding of
- Gender Intensification
- Genetics and Human Development
- Giftedness in African American Children
- Human Brain, Evolution of
- Identity
- Identity Development in Biracial Children
- Identity Statuses
- Identity, Capital Model of
- Infant Reflexes
- Language Production in Infants and Toddlers
- Learning in the Life Cycle
- Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Youth, Sexual Development
- Limbic System, Hedonic Escalation
- Mastery Motivation, Preschool and Early Childhood
- Mediated Learning Experience
- Meiosis and Its Consequences
- Memory, Flashbulb
- Menarche
- Metacognition
- Morality, Theories of Development
- Play, Childhood
- Positive Development
- Problem Solving
- Prosocial Behavior
- Puberty
- Resiliency in Adolescence
- Self-Concept
- Self-Concepts and Self-Esteem, Children and Adolescents
- Self-Regulation
- Separation-Individuation, Margaret Mahler's Model
- Social Motivation
- Special Education, Transition From School to Young Adulthood
- Testimony, Children's Competence for
- Transition to College
- Developmental Risks
- Alcohol Use and Disorders Among Youth
- Child Abuse, Religion-Related
- Child labor
- Cigarette Smoking in Adolescents
- Cocaine
- Delinquency
- Diabetes
- Divorce, Its Impact on Children
- Domestic Violence, Child Exposure to
- Domestic Violence, Impact on Women and Children
- Homelessness and Runaway Youth
- Incarcerated Mothers, Children of
- Learned Helplessness and Learned Optimism
- Malnutrition, Effects of
- Obesity
- Risk Behaviors
- Sensory Impairment, Vision and Hearing
- Siblinghood, Transitions to
- Stimulants, Adolescent Use of
- Substance Use and Abuse Across the Life Span
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Traumatic Brain Injury, School Adjustment
- Violence, Effects on Development
- Youth Prostitution
- Ecology of Human Development
- Advertising, Effects on Children
- Body Types, Appraisals of
- Bullying, School
- Career Choice
- Community
- Community Linkages, Levels of
- Community Schools and Applied Developmental Research
- Community Youth Development
- Developmental Contextualism
- Developmental Contextualism and Cultural Adjustment of Immigrant Children
- Developmentally Attentive Communities
- Education, Urban
- Families, Dual-Career
- Interactive Media, Effects of
- Internet
- Maternal Employment
- Media and Children's Fears
- Media Use, Reading, and Academic Achievement
- Media Violence
- Mental Retardation, Sociocontextual Influences in Adulthood
- Occupations and Gender
- Peer Play in Early Childhood
- Peer Relationships
- Refugees
- School Counseling
- School Refusal
- School Transitions, Impact, Intervention, and Policy
- Schools and School Reform
- Schools, Consultation to
- Social Capital
- Social Change and Human Development
- Social Exclusion
- Social Support
- Social Support in Old Age
- Social Support, Urban Adolescents
- Sports, High School
- Television, Educational and Prosocial Effects of
- Video Games
- Youth Culture, Hip-hop
- Youth-Adult Partnerships
- Emotional and Social Development
- Ethics
- Families
- Adoption
- African Family Traditions, Education and
- Divorce, Its Impact on Children
- Families, Dual-Career
- Families, Immigrant Families in the United States
- Families, Multigenerational
- Family Caregiving for Elders
- Family Policy
- Family Systems Theory
- Immigrant Families, European
- Immigrants, Experiences of
- Latino Families in America
- Native American Children and Families
- Television, Mediating Effects of Family Communication
- Foundations
- Health
- Abstinence in Adolescence
- Adolescent Pregnancy and Births
- Asthma in Adolescence
- Cancer Patients, Adolescent Consent to Research
- Cancer, Psychosocial Dimensions of
- Celiac Disease
- Cortisol and Stress
- Culture and Health
- Diabetes
- Frontal Cortex
- HIV Prevention in Young Adults
- HIV Prevention With Injecting Drug Users
- Obesity, Pediatric
- Obesity, Prevention in Childhood
- Psychotropic Medications
- Religiosity and Mental Health
- Sensory Impairment, Aging
- Vision Impairment, Late Life Adjustment and Rehabilitation
- Visual Impairment Across the Life Span
- Youth Development as a Public Idea
- Youth Development Professionals
- Youth Development Programs, Essential Elements of
- Historical Influences
- Infant Development
- Organizations
- American Psychological Association, Division 7 (Developmental Psychology)
- Boys & Girls Clubs of America
- Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center
- Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University
- Center for Social Development, Applied Developmental Science at
- Center for the Study of Human Development (CSHD), Brown University
- Center for Youth as Resources (CYAR), Headquarters for the Youth as Resources® (YAR)
- Child and Family Research, National Institute of Child Heath and Human Development
- Child Trends
- Community-Campus Partnerships and Community-Based Program Evaluation
- Erikson Institute
- Faith-Based Organizations
- Four-H (4-H)
- Head Start
- ImagineNations Group
- Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development
- Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development
- Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University
- International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development
- Murray, Henry A., Research Center
- National Council on Family Relations
- Public Policy and Youth Development
- Search Institute
- Society for Research on Adolescence
- Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues
- Society for the Study of Human Development
- Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, Division 53, American Psychological Association
- UNICEF
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
- World Health Organization
- YouthBuild USA
- Parenting
- Adolescent Mothers
- Adolescent-Parent Relations
- Attachment, Child-Parent
- Bonding, Parent-Child
- Discipline, Early Childhood
- Families, Multigenerational
- Father Involvement
- Foster Care
- Gay and Lesbian Parenting, Community Attitudes Toward
- Gay and Lesbian Parenting, Legal Aspects of
- Parent Advocacy
- Parent Education
- Parent Expectations
- Parent Involvement, Programs in
- Parental Involvement in Education
- Parental Self-Efficacy
- Parenting in Adolescence
- Parenting, Chinese Families and
- Parenting, Divorce and
- Parenting, Native Americans and
- Parenting, Prejudice and
- Parenting, Single Mothers
- Parenting, Stressful Environments and
- Television, Mediating Effects of Family Communication
- Personality Development
- Religiosity and Spirituality
- Research Methodology
- Adolescence, Current Trends and Research About
- Assessment, Cultural Validity of
- Asset Mapping
- Brain Mapping
- Change, Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects of
- Community-Based Research Ethics
- Day Care, Measuring Quality of Care
- Delinquent Development, the Cambridge Study
- Field Experimentation Research
- Forensic Interviewing
- Policy-Relevant Methods in Applied Developmental Science
- Program Evaluation
- Research Design, Developmental
- Research Methods, Quantitative
- Research Methods, Statistical Analysis for Longitudinal Research
- Schools
- Social Issues
- Adolescent Mothers
- AIDS, Women, and Poverty
- Computer Games
- Family Policy
- Juvenile Justice, Racial Differences
- Media and Developmental Science
- Parenting, Single Mothers
- Participant Advocate, Research Involving Children
- Prejudice in Childhood
- Racism
- Silbereisen, Rainer K.
- Socioeconomic Status
- Welfare Reform
- Work and Family Life
- Theory
- “Goodness of Fit” and Development
- Applied Developmental Science, Concepts of
- Behavior Theory
- Developmental Contextualism and Cultural Adjustment of Immigrant Children
- Developmental Systems Theories
- Eccles, Jacquelynne, and the Expectancy-Value Model of Achievement Choice
- Empowerment Theory and Youth
- Erickson's Theory
- Family Systems Theory
- Identity, Helm's Theory of Racial
- Life Events
- Life Expectancy and the Life Span
- Overton, Willis F., Philosophical Foundations of Developmental Science
- Pediatric Psychology
- Perceptual Development, Childhood
- Philosophy of Science and Applied Developmental Science
- Positive Psychology
- Positive Psychology, Seligman's Concept of
- Positive Youth Development, a Developmental Systems View
- Problem Behavior Theory
- Psychoanalysis in Adults, Theory and Technique
- Recapitulation
- Sport Psychology
- Stage Theories of Human Development
- Stage-Environment Fit Theory
- Television, Children's Processing of
- Universities
- Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center
- Catholic University of America
- Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University
- Center for the Study of Human Development (CSHD), Brown University
- Fordham University
- Fuller Theological Seminary
- Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development
- Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University
- Institute of Child Development
- Michigan State University, Applied Developmental Science at
- Northwestern University, Human Development and Social Policy Program
- Tufts University, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development
- University of Michigan
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Yale University, Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy
- Youth Programs
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