The U.S. Supreme Court has restored adoption rights for a parent divorced from her same-sex partner.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a woman lost her rights to her adoptive children when she and her same-sex partner split.
As NCRM reported last year, the Alabama Supreme court ruled the woman, known only as “V.L.,” should lose her parental adoptive rights because another state, where the couple first resided, had no right to grant them in the first place.
“V.L.” is not the birth mother but had obtained adoptive parental rights in Georgia. The couple, who never married, split, and her same-sex partner, identified only as “E.L.,” won the Alabama Supreme Court case denying her parental rights as the adoptive mother.
In December, the Supreme Court stayed the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision and temporarily restored V.L.’s parental rights while it took time to decide whether or not to hear the case.Â
Monday morning, the Supreme Court issued a ruling reversing the Alabama decision.
Buzzfeed’s Chris Geider tweeted the decision:
USA Today notes “the case presented a test of an issue that crops up occasionally in state and federal courts since the Supreme Court struck down state bans on same-sex marriage: Can gays and lesbians be denied adoption rights?”
“While at least 30 states have permitted second-parent adoptions, almost all of them have done so under statutory frameworks that, like Georgia’s, do not expressly embrace the concept,” V.L. attorneys wrote in a brief. “As a result, the number of children who could be adversely affected by the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision is large.”Â
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.
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UPDATE I: 10:19 AM EST –
The decision was unanimous.
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 Image by Gouldy via Flickr and a CC licenseÂ