by Rex Wockner
U.S. NEWS
California Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Protection of Parent-Child Relationships Act on Aug. 5. The measure will allow courts to determine who a child's parents are when there is both a nonbiological parent and a man who signed a voluntary declaration of paternity.
"California courts must be able to take into consideration the established relationship between a parent and child when determining legal parentage," said Equality California Executive Director Roland Palencia. "(This law) ensures that families are not broken up, by preserving children's established family relationships, including those of LGBT families."
According to EQCA: "This bill fixes a problem caused by a recent case that said that courts cannot recognize a nonbiological parent who has raised the child if another man signed a voluntary paternity declaration, even if the man who signed the declaration had no relationship with the child and no intention of raising the child. Because of this case, children with nonbiological parents (were) vulnerable to losing the parent they have always known."
