By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
SOUTHFIELD – On Nov. 1, state Representative Paul Condino (D-Southfield) celebrated the beginning of National Adoption Awareness Month by introducing a bill to protect children by allowing second parent adoption in Michigan.
Under current Michigan law, only one parent in an unmarried couple can be legally recognized as the child's parent, causing familial instability should the legal parent die or the couple separate. Further, the parent who is not legally recognized frequently cannot provide the couple's children with basic protections such as health insurance, an inheritance, or Social Security benefits.
"To me it's a fundamental right that children have the stability to have two nurturing adults in a parental atmosphere. I think it's critical," Condino said at a press conference announcing the bill's introduction. "This is a very important time to start this fight on behalf of children and their families."
During the press conference, Condino made it clear that he wrote and introduced his adoption bill to protect children. "We are all here to rally on behalf of children and their right to have two legal parents," he said.
Jane Bassett, vice president of the Coalition for Adoption Rights Equality, and American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan's LGBT Project Staff Attorney Jay Kaplan, joined Condino at the podium.
All three speakers stressed the beneficial effects of the adoption bill upon children and families.
"Study after study after study shows the importance to children of having two legal parents," Condino said.
Condino spoke of heartbreaking situations he faced as a hospice lawyer, when while trying to help dying women settle their legal affairs he was not able to help them arrange to have their children adopted by the person of their choice.
Bassett, who practices family law, talked about the impact of current law on children left without income or health insurance when the non-legal parent leaves a household after a separation. "There is nothing I can do as a practitioner to protect them," she said.
Kaplan added, "This bill puts the focus where it should be, on the child, not on the marital status of the parents."
Asked whether his adoption bill was aimed at allowing gays and lesbians to adopt, Condino said, "No, this bill is aimed at children, and at the legal rights that children lose" under current law. Current Michigan law allows gays and lesbians to adopt only as singles.
Condino is ready for any battle with right-wing "pro-family" groups that come forward to oppose his bill. "To me as a practicing Presbyterian, a Christian quite frankly, I think that that violates the tenets of anybody's faith and faith-based religion to put children in the position where they cannot have two nurturing parents, and I cannot think of anything more fundamental to anybody's faith than protecting children and their families."
As to questions about whether Michigan's anti-family marriage amendment might impact the adoption bill's chances, Bassett said that Condino's bill "doesn't create a relationship between the adults, but between each adult and the child."
Triangle Foundation Director of Policy Sean Kosofsky, who was present at the press conference, said that the fact that Condino's adoption bill has only one Republican co-sponsor so far is not indicative of the level of support the bill has.
"I've spoken with a number of Republican legislators who are supportive of this legislation – co-sponsorship is not necessarily the number one indicator of support on the floor," Kosofsky said. "We're living in a very, very hostile political atmosphere toward bills of this nature, so I'm not surprised that there aren't more co-sponsors. If it came up for a vote, though, I think it would enjoy a lot of support."
Alexandra Matish, partner of CARE President Bev Davidson and mother of a three-month-old baby girl, said that passage of Condino's bill is important to her. "Right now I have no legal rights to her," Matish said of her daughter, "even though I get up in the middle of the night and change her diaper, and do the things that every parent does. Should something – God forbid – happen to my partner, my child would become a ward of the state. I would have to probably petition the court or fight with her [partner's] family possibly, to simply become the parent that I already am."
Current second parent adoption bill co-sponsors
The following Representatives are signed on as co-sponsors of Representative Condino's adoption bill.
Marie Donigan (D), District 26: [email protected]
Chris Kolb (D), District 53: [email protected]
Alma Wheeler-Smith (D), District 54: [email protected]
Steve Tobocman (D), District 12: [email protected]
Alexander Lipsey (D), District 60: [email protected]
Jim Plakas (D), District 16: [email protected]
Fred Miller (D), District 31: [email protected]
George Cushingberry, Jr. (D), District 8: [email protected]
Andy Meisner (D), District 27: [email protected]
Hoon-Yung Hopgood, (D) District 22: [email protected]
Gabe Leland (D), District 10: [email protected]
Lamar Lemmons III (D), District 3: [email protected]
Leon Drolet (R), District 33: [email protected]
Pam Byrnes (D), District 52: [email protected]
Glenn Anderson (D), District 18: [email protected]
Aldo Vagnozzi (D), District 37: [email protected]
Gretchen Whitmer (D), District 69: [email protected]
Frank Accavitti (D), District 42: [email protected]
Brenda Clack (D), District 34: [email protected]
Lee Gonzales (D), District 49: [email protected]
Paula Zelenko (D), District 50: [email protected]
Carl Williams (D), District 95: [email protected]
Mary Waters (D), District 4: [email protected]
Gino Polidori (D), District 15: [email protected]
Kathleen Law (D), District 23: [email protected]
Barbara Farrah (D), District 13: [email protected]
Doug Bennett (D), District 92: [email protected]
Matthew Gillard (D), District 106: [email protected]
