Second-Parent adoption- TX

danceday · May 2012

Hi! I was wondering if anyone had any experience with second-parent adoptions in texas.

(also, would it help our case at all if both of our names are on the birth certificate- we were legally married in MA, so if the baby is born there, I believe both of our names would go on it)

Thanks

emma+karen · May 2012

We are going to be doing this, too! I was referred to a lawyer in Austin who works exclusively in LGBT 2nd parent adoption across the state. I think her name is Suzanne Bryant. She's supposed to be great!

hlke · May 2012

I think the best thing you can do is consult with a lawyer. We're in a different state, but we saw a lawyer who specializes in LGBT family law and she was able to walk us through how exactly the process would work. You especially need to ask about how what state the baby is born in affects who would have jurisdiction for the adoption. In our case, we want Illinois to have jurisdiction, and so my wife plans to not travel out of state after 30 weeks.

Our consultation was free and the lawyer really knew her stuff. We got her name from the Alternative Insemination program we are working with.

Kershnic · May 2012

I have always been under the impression that the state you legally reside in has jurisdiction over the adoption regardless of where the baby was born. Having both names on the bc is nice and holds weight in that state until the adoption goes through, but I don't believe it makes any difference at all to other states that don't recognize the relationship.

Of course consult a lawyer though.

2moms2b · May 2012

There are two awesome firms I have found to help with this from research of our own...

Suzanne Bryant in Austin and Connie Moore in Houston. Both will work with you remotely so if you don't live in those cities it's ok. From what I understand they both have the cases heard in Bexar County (San Antonio) as there have been many cases through there already. Both work solely with the LGBT community.

From the questions we have asked, in Texas you can only list one maternal reference and one paternal reference on the birth certificate. We are running into this problem as I am the intended carrier but we want to use my partners last name. Due to laws in Texas as I will be the one giving birth, well hopefully, my last name will be on the birth certificate. We are going to have to file a legal name change for me and the baby. The awesome news is we can do this at the same time as the second parent adoption. Once we file the legal name change we can re-apply for the birth certificate to be amended. Again tho, this is just from the information we have gathered by speaking to the lawyer and the office of vital records. We also plan on asking the hospital once we get pregnant during our visit.

Let me know if you find anything else out as this is so much information to take into consideration. Best of luck!!!!

hlke · May 2012

Kershnic:
I have always been under the impression that the state you legally reside in has jurisdiction over the adoption regardless of where the baby was born. Having both names on the bc is nice and holds weight in that state until the adoption goes through, but I don't believe it makes any difference at all to other states that don't recognize the relationship.
Of course consult a lawyer though.

I should have mentioned this matters because we are using a known donor who lives out of state, and we need to both terminate parental rights and adopt. It's the TPR that requires us to be in the state for the state to have jurisdiction, and even then, it is largely a precaution simply because there have not been similar cases decided before, and because the donor's state of residence is terrible with respect to adoption laws. I actually have to check if it means we shouldn't travel to any state, or just to that particular state.

Kershnic · May 2012

hlke - I had no idea about that aspect! Fascinating questions from a legal perspective, even if they're a huge pain in the *ss from a personal perspective! You can't do a lot of travel in 3rd trimester anyways though, so I doubt it'll be too difficult for you. (Even though there's barely any legal importance to having both names on the bc, I've joked with DW that I won't go to any states that don't put both names on after we hit 23 weeks. ;-) )

Second-Parent adoption- TX

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