Mere weeks after the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned a ban on same-sex adoption, the battle over two-parent adoptions is heating up in Michigan as advocates for youth in the foster care system say that thousands of children are being denied permanent homes. Under a 1935 law, only one person in state government can sign off on every adoption in the state, causing a two month delay reports the Detroit News.
“„The Department’s interpretation of Michigan’s adoption statute is inaccurate. There is nothing in Michigan’s adoption law that says that the parties must be married in order to jointly adopt.
“„Michigan’s statute requires that if a person who wishes to adopt is married, his or her spouse must join in on the adoption petition, but there is no language in the adoption statute that says joint adoptions are limited to married couples.
“„The Department is manufacturing a prohibition that is not there in the specific language of the statute, which according to Michigan courts, “must be strictly construed.” Courts in Illinois, District of Columbia, Massachusetts,. New Jersey, New York, and Vermont (all of which have similar adoption statutory language as in Michigan requiring married spouses to join in adoption petitions) have held that this language does not prohibit two unmarried persons, including gay couples, from jointly adopting.
“„Michigan appellate courts have not looked at the issue of gay couples adopting, and although Gisgie states otherwise, this is a court and legislative issue. It is not up to DHS, under the direction of Maura Corrigan, a former justice on Michigan’s Supreme Court, who without a case before the Court, intervened to stop Second Parent Adoptions from being granted in Washtenaw County in 2002, to manufacture a prohibition that is not there in the statute.
“„Michigan’s equal rights advocates are finding that Arkansas is way ahead of Michigan in a number of ways. Arkansas recently passed an enumerated anti-bullying bill into law and with this Supreme Court decision has once again executed a concern and support for the general welfare of its residents that Michigan has yet to show.
“„Michigan continues to struggle for an anti-bullying law that protects all kids and is now attempting to misconstrue our adoption laws in ways that only endanger the stability of Michigan’s children. In this case, the Michigan Department of Human Services is interpreting Michigan adoption law in ways that deny kids available homes when its purpose is only to implement a Michigan statute that has no marriage requirement. The misinterpretation prevents the placement of our state’s most vulnerable youth.