SAME-GENDER COUPLE ADOPTION (CROSS ADOPTION) LAWYERS SERVING GARDEN CITY & ROSLYN, NEW YORK

New York Cross Adoption Attorney

Proudly Representing Same-Gender Couples

At Greenberg & Greenberg, we understand the challenges that any couple faces during the adoption process. As a same-gender couple, the challenges you face when adopting can be extensive. Although our country has made great strides in acknowledging and expanding the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, the fact remains that the rights of same-sex couples are still a topic of much debate.

New York is one of several states that allows same-gender couples to adopt. In a process known as cross adoption, one partner adopts a child while the second partner applies to become a second parent, or co-parent. Second-parent adoptions have been granted by courts in more than 20 states.

As same-gender couple adoptions pose a number of legal difficulties, our cross-adoption attorneys are prepared to assist and support you through navigating the legal channels needed to make your adoption dreams a reality. Additionally, we can assist individuals who have adopted internationally as single parents with helping their partners become legal parents and guardians. We also serve Garden City, Roslyn, NY and other surrounding areas.

LGBT Rights in Adoption

Gay and lesbian couples who wish to begin a family often turn to adoption as a way to bring children into their households. Adoption by both parents is important to ensure that your children and your rights are adequately protected. You can establish a legal parenting relationship with the child or children through cross adoption, and as New York cross adoption lawyers, we can help!

The purpose of this type of adoption is to provide for the rights of LGBT couples and to ensure the security of the children involved. In the case of an unfortunate event, legal adoption can ensure that the children will be taken care of after a parent's death or incapacity.

Laws to Note

In a 2017 landmark decision, a New York appellate court declared that the marital presumption (which presumes both spouses are the parents of a child born in wedlock) also applies to same-sex marriages, even in the face of a challenge by the child's biological parent (Matter of Maria-Irene D. 2017 NY Slip Op 06716). This decision was followed up by the New York Child-Parent Security Act (CPSA), which went into effect in February of 2021.

The CPSA will provide those conceiving children through assisted reproduction-such as the use of a gestational carrier or via donor eggs, sperm, or embryos-with clear legal mechanisms to secure their legal ties to their children.

Orders of Parentage

The only way for a non-genetically related/non-gestating intimate partner or spouse to legally establish their relationship to their child is through an Order of Parentage.

Orders of Parentages are available to couples in which the biological parent and their partner jointly planned the conception of a child through assisted reproduction with the intention that both would be parents, regardless of marriage or gender. For information on how to obtain an Order of Parentage, contact us today at Greenberg & Greenberg.

Talk to Our Knowledgeable Legal Team

If you would like to pursue a same-sex couple adoption, or cross adoption, then it is important to speak with our firm at your earliest convenience. Our office is available to you, and we are prepared to help you through the process of adoption. We can help you understand the important steps in adoption and how to begin the process.

Our firm can also assist you through the pre-adoption approval process. Contact one of our attorneys today for legal assistance with a cross adoption.