Father Denied Custody Of His Daughter Due To Law Identifying Lesbian Mothers As Legal Parents

Photography by NHOPHOTOS.com

A little girl who was raised by her lesbian parents was placed in an unfortunate situation when her biological mother became imprisoned and her other mother became hospitalized. When the little girl’s biological father sought custody of her, he was denied because of California’s two-parent policy. Instead, the child became a ward of the state. Even though the two women were otherwise disposed, the law still views them as the child’s legitimate parents. Child advocates in San Diego are now helping push legislation in California to allow children to have multiple parents.

University of San Diego Law School Professor Robert Fellmeth is co-sponsoring Senate Bill 1476. If signed into law, it would allow children, especially those with divorced or non-biological parents to legally have more than 2 parents. “In a perfect world, every child would have two parents, nobody would die, nobody would get divorced,” Fellmeth said.

According to Fellmath,  the growing number of divorces and second marriages have left many children caught in the midst of complicated and sometimes nasty custody battles. Fellmeth believes the new legislation will benefit children significantly. “From the child’s point of view, she’s got two daddies and one mommy, and I’ll tell you as a child advocate, if I can get all three of them contributing to the college fund of that kid, I want to do it,” Fellmeth said. “To limit it to two in this day and age is arbitrary, capricious, unjustified,” he said.

The bill is receiving a plethora of criticism from  the conservative religious front. “How many parents can a child have –  two, three, five?” asked Pastor Chris Clarke at East Clairemont Southern Baptist Church. According to Clarke, the bill promotes instability for children in custody battles by dividing them between multiple parents. Jim Daly of ChristianPost.com also believes children will not benefit from this legislation. “California Senator Mark Leno may be on the verge of a legislative victory, but like regularly happens with attempts to redefine God’s design of the family, when radicals win, it’s the children who ultimately lose,” Daly wrote.

How do you feel about this legislation?