The House has advanced a measure that a lawmaker who helped shepherd it through the chamber says addresses the changing nature of Vermont families.
The bill, according to House Judiciary Committee Chair Maxine Grad, D-Moretown, “recognizes our common humanity that parentage is about love, regardless of biology.”
H.562, aimed at modernizing Vermont’s parentage laws, was approved Tuesday by the House on a voice vote.
“State law has simply not kept pace with the myriad of ways in which Vermonters become parents,” Grad said in a report to her fellow lawmakers.
The bill, according to Grad, “ensures equality for all children and families by ensuring the law does not discriminate on the basis of marital status or gender and promotes the welfare of Vermont children.”
While there was some debate on proposed amendments, when it came time to take up the full bill on the House floor Tuesday there was no discussion. The legislation now heads to the Senate.
The bill provides several ways parentage can be established and comes on the heels of a Vermont Supreme Court ruling issued late last year that chastised the Legislature for failing to update and clarify Vermont’s parentage laws.
“In the absence of guidance from the Legislature on this question, this Court must continue to resolve these cases as they arise,” wrote Justice Beth Robinson.
The Vermont Supreme Court said in that ruling that it was the third case in the past decade on the subject. The cases involved whether someone who is not related biologically to the child, has not legally adopted the child and is not married to the child’s legal parent may also be considered a legal parent of the child.
Last session lawmakers created a parentage study committee, and in October that panel sent its report to the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
According to that report, “most states now recognize some form of ‘de facto’ parents.” The report proposed legislation based on a Maine law, which creates a standard for determining when a person not otherwise considered a legal parent can be declared one.
The bill approved by the House on Tuesday stems from that committee’s work, and is modeled after that Maine law as well as the Uniform Parentage Act.
The legislation states the different ways a person can be adjudicated a parent include:
- giving birth to a child;
- adopting a child;
- signing a voluntary acknowledgment of parentage of a child;
- being a de facto parent of a child;
- consenting to assisted reproduction or a gestational carrier agreement (also known as surrogacy).
A person can be determined by a court to be a de facto parent by showing “clear and convincing evidence” they have “fully and completely” undertaken a “permanent, unequivocal, committed, and responsible parental role in the child’s life,” including that the person has:
- lived with the child for a significant period of time;
- been a consistent caretaker of the child;
- developed a bonded and dependent relationship with the child, and the person and the other parent have understood, acknowledged or accepted that relationship or behaved as though the person were a parent of the child;
- accepted full and permanent responsibilities as a parent of the child without expectation of financial compensation.
The legislation does not delve into parental rights and responsibilities, such as who gets custody or visitation. Those matters would be taken up in separate court proceedings.