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Is marital status fair grounds on which to judge someone's parenting abilities? Michigan lawmakers think so, because Michigan law doesn't allow two parents to adopt children legally if they're unmarried. Same-sex couples and otherwise effective potential parents are denied the right to adopt their children as a couple — only one parent can legally claim a child.
But same-sex marriage isn't legal in Michigan — so children who would end up in loving homes instead find themselves in the foster care system. If something happens to the legal partner, the child goes to foster care instead of staying with his or her other parent.
This is all because of lawmakers' own moral judgments that an unmarried couple shouldn't have the same rights married families have.
This isn't about anyone's opinion on gay marriage; it's about the well being of our children. Urge Michigan representatives to legalize second parent adoption.
Dear Jase Bolger, Michigan Speaker of the House:
With unwanted and unplanned pregnancies on the rise in America, it's time we take a second look at our adoption system and how we can better help children whose birth parents must give them up.
Right now in Michigan, it's illegal for non-married couples to legally adopt a child; rather, only one parent can adopt the child, and the other parent has no legal rights. This means that if something were to happen to the legal parent, the child would be sent to foster care instead of stay with his or her other parent.
This stipulation is especially egregious for same-sex couples, as gay marriage isn't legal in Michigan. So otherwise fit and competent families are denied the same rights as heterosexual couples.
This isn't an issue about your opinion on gay marriage. This issue concerns the health of children, and we can all agree that a complete family is healthier for our kids than a broken one.
Please do what's right for families in Michigan and pass House Bill 4249, which would allow two unmarried persons to petition to adopt a child.
Thank you.