Lambda Legal is representing Rita Goodman, a nonbiological mother who was awarded shared custody of the two boys she parented from birth with her former partner. Goodman’s ex–partner and the boys’ biological mother, Siobhan LaPiana, appealed the trial court order that awarded Goodman custody. Goodman and LaPiana planned the boys’ births together during their ten–year committed relationship. LaPiana gave birth but both women equally parented the children. After the couple split, LaPiana began restricting Goodman’s interaction with the boys, despite the parenting agreement they had drafted and signed before the birth of their first child. We argue that Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment has no bearing on the court’s authority to order shared custody between former same–sex partners — the same conclusion reached by the Ohio Supreme Court in a similar case last year.

A lower court judge was wrong to grant a lesbian joint custody of her former partner’s adopted daughter, the Delaware Supreme Court has ruled.

In a unanimous decision handed down this week, the justices said the woman had no standing to petition for custody in Family Court because she was not the child’s legal parent. The court affirmed that under Delaware law, a person who is considered a “de facto” parent of a child does not have the same rights as a legal parent and is not entitled to custody.

Citing existing law, Justice Randy Holland wrote that a person who does not qualify as a legal parent has no standing to petition for custody of a child unless the child is dependent or neglected and a judge determines that he or she should not be placed in the custody of the legal parent.

 See Delaware high court reverses ruling granting shared custody to lesbian ex-partner
The Capital (Annapolis, Md.)