Legal Protection for All the Children : Dutch-United States Comparison of Lesbian and Gay Parent Adoptions

The purpose of this article is to examine the recent developments concerning same-gender parent adoptions in the Unites States and the Netherlands, and to compare the different routes these changes have taken. The first section of the article examines the present status of the case law in both countries. It begins with an analysis of the court decisions in the United States, in which case law now makes it legal in numerous states for gays and lesbians to adopt, either as "co-parents" or as "strangers." The section also includes an analysis of the recent Dutch case before the highest court in the Netherlands, the Hoge Raad, which involves a request for a co-parent adoption by two women who were raising their children together as a family. The next section sets out the current status of Dutch law as it affects gay and lesbian co-parents, and includes present adoption laws, joint parental authority, and registered partnerships. The fourth section examines proposed legislation in the two countries concerning the right of same-gender couples, and homosexual individuals in general, to adopt. The final section is a comparison and analysis of the Dutch and American legal histories concerning same-gender co-parent adoptions. It examines the differences in the two countries' legal systems, the social status of homosexuals, the social acceptance of adoption, and each country's underlying assumptions about family law. The article concludes by pointing out that recognition of same-gender co-parent adoption is in the best interest of the children raised by same-gender couples