But the Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to give same-sex couples who tie the knot the right to jointly adopt children, which advocates say is a dramatic improvement because co-custody agreements are imperfect and do not always serve the best interests of children.
Some local same-sex couples with children plan to seek joint adoption because it is more clear-cut than joint custody arrangements.
“I think it will simplify things, because we’ll both be able to tell people we’re her father,” said Joe Lacey, 51, of Dayton, whose husband plans to adopt his legal daughter.
In Ohio, people generally can adopt children if they are married, single, divorced or widowed, regardless of sexual orientation. Unmarried partners cannot jointly adopt children. This has barred same-sex couples from becoming adoptive parents together, because gay marriage was against the law and not recognized in Ohio.
However, since the early 2000s same-sex partners in the state have been able to enter into shared-parenting agreements, which can provide non-biological, nonlegal partners parenting rights and responsibilities, said Susan Becker, general counsel for the ACLU of Ohio.
Joint-custody agreements, which are arranged through juvenile court, allow partners to share in decision-making for the children, she said.
Co-custody agreements were useful and certainly benefited families, but they are not ideal because they typically provide only partial rights to one partner and do not address all legal questions and issues that can arise, Becker said.
“It was an important step,” she said. “But it’s nowhere near what you’d get under a full, parental relationship, in terms of rights and responsibilities.”
Ohio Revised Code states that married couples can adopt together, but the code has defined a married couple as a husband and wife, said Montgomery County Probate Judge Alice McCollum.
But the code also states that if one of spouse has a child and then marries, the step-parent can adopt the child, and the code does not specify the gender of these parties, she said.
McCollum said she has interpreted this section to permit married gay and lesbian partners to adopt the child of their spouses as step-parents. In other words, a gay or lesbian partner can adopt a child individually or give birth to a child, and then their spouse can adopt that child as a step-parent.
“I have instructed my adoption department that should couples call in about adoption, that I cannot do a husband-wife adoption, where neither person is the parent of the child,” she said. “But I can do a step-parent.”
McCollum anticipates the state legislature will need to update the code to reflect the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling.
The Ohio Supreme Court already ordered the use of gender-neutral references in family court cases to replace “husband” and “wife.”
McCollum said it could be six weeks or longer before her court finalizes a second-parent adoption for a same-sex couple, because it takes time for cases to work through the system.
Lacey, who serves on the Dayton Public Schools board, has been with his partner, Tony Ballis, since 2002. They wed in Indiana in March.
In 2009, Lacey officially adopted a daughter, Arianna, who turns 8 later this month.
Lacey is Arianna’s legal father. Ballis acquired legal guardianship through juvenile court.
But Ballis plans to officially adopt Arianna through probate court. His name will then appear on her birth certificate.
Lacey said becoming joint adoptive parents will make things easier, such as explaining the family dynamics.
“In Ohio, it will simplify matters,” he said.
Lacey adopted Arianna through a private adoption service.
Patricia Hill, the director of program development for adoptions with Dayton ACTION, said her organization hopes the Supreme Court ruling will be interpreted to allow same-sex partners to jointly adopt children. Other agencies have come out in support of this.
Dayton ACTION, which is the adoption arm of the National Youth Advocate Program Inc., has adopted many children to gay and lesbian parents, who offer safety, love, stability and positive opportunities for children needing forever families, Hill said.
Many gay and lesbian parents have been willing and capable of adopting children who tend to be harder to place, such as older children, large sibling groups and children with special needs, she said.
“In our experience, same-sex partners are fierce advocates for their children, seeking and finding any services their children require,” Hill said.
Opponents of same-sex adoption, such as the conservative-leaning Family Research Council, have said children suffer when they grow up without both a mother and a father.
Some opponents have said homosexual adoption changes the traditional family structure, which can be hard on children.
Joint or second-parent adoptions will provide legal certainty for both parents, protecting families from problems that can result from a change in living arrangements or circumstances, said Currey Cook, Lambda’s national director of the youth in out-of-home care project.
Cook said gay and lesbian couples have been underused to find homes for children in foster care. He said this is especially unfortunate because lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) children are over-represented in foster care, because too frequently they are rejected by their families.
“What we see is an absolute need for more loving homes for children in foster care,” he said. “LGBTQ people have been underutilized.”
At the end of 2014, 4,304 children in Ohio’s foster care system were awaiting adoption, said Benjamin Johnson, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Last year, 1,385 children were adopted from the state’s foster case system. These numbers do not include private adoptions, international adoptions and children adopted out of other states’ foster care systems.
Sonya Harry and Alison Perkins married about two years ago in New York. They have been together for about 15 years.
They wanted children, and Harry was impregnated using an anonymous sperm donation.
Harry, 41, of Washington Twp., is the mother of two sons, 5 and 8. Perkins has co-custody.
But Harry said they are researching the benefits of Perkins adopting the boys. She said they want to find out more about the benefits.
“We have asked the question, is there any advantage if she went ahead and adopted them?” she said. “I just don’t know.”
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