While an increasing number of states regulate surrogacy in a way that treats intended parents as legal parents, very few jurisdictions do so with respect to genetic surrogacy, where the person serving as surrogate is genetically related to the child. In the vast majority of states, genetic surrogacy agreements would require the non-biological intended parent to adopt the child. Some states have struggled to keep up with the realities of American families and reform and update parentage laws to reflect the different ways individuals have children. Others resisted change, leaving parents and children vulnerable in the process. Still others have taken a middle way, only partially updating parentage laws. Each State has a mechanism for the recognition of intended parents who have children through assisted reproduction. This is especially important for those who are not biological parents or genetic parents. It is important to note that a common-law parent is not just a third party. Parents or life partners who help with a person`s child are de facto not parents. Instead, the parents have de facto established a parental relationship with the child. Xu, Q.
and Brabeck, K. M. (2012). Use of services for Latin American children in mixed-status families. Social Work Research, 36(1). Excerpt from swr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/10/10/swr.svs015 About half of U.S. jurisdictions grant permission to functional parents. While most use the term “common-law parents,” some jurisdictions use other designations – including psychological parents, parent-by-estoppel and in loco parentis. While in many states functional parentage has emerged from common law and just principles as a judicial creation, states have recently begun codifying de facto parentage – a step consistent with the 2017 UPA. The legal status of immigrant parents is an important, but understudied, aspect of children`s developmental contexts that can affect their social-emotional well-being.
This study used the behavioral and emotional screening system to investigate the influence of parental legal status on the socio-emotional well-being of U.S.-born children aged 7 to 10 to immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Central America. Aspects of parent-child relationships, as measured by the Parent-Child Relationship Questionnaire, were also examined as potential facilitators. One hundred and eighty families were recruited through school and community work. Forty-nine percent of participating families had mixed status. The results suggest that children from mixed-status families experience higher levels of anxiety but lower levels of hyperactivity, and that parent-child communication moderates the relationship between the parent`s legal status and the child`s hyperactivity. The results also indicate an overall high level of functioning in all families, regardless of the legal status of the parents, in several areas of parent-child relationships. The results suggest the importance of internalizing symptoms in children from mixed-status families, as well as the potential to leverage family strengths when designing programs and policies to support immigrant families. The Dutch Civil Code (Burgerlijk Wetboek, in Dutch) deals with legal parenting. The word “parent” in the Civil Code refers to the legal parent of a child. In many states, intended parents can obtain a parentage order to guarantee their parental status. In some States, non-biological intended parents have the right to establish filiation through voluntary recognition of filiation. This approach to ACP is particularly important for unmarried same-sex couples, where the non-biological mother would otherwise have to adopt her own child.
Legal parental status can only be granted to a person whom the court considers to be the child`s parent. Guardianship goes to a person who is not the child`s parent. In general, both spouses are the legal parents of the child if one of them gives birth to a child during their marriage. This can be different for same-sex spouses, depending on the state they live in. Yoshikawa, H., & Kalil, A. (2011). The impact of unauthorized parental status on early childhood development contexts in immigrant families. Child Development Perspectives, 5, 291-297. doi:10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00204.x. Delva, J., Horner, P., Martinez, R., Sanders, L., Lopez, W.D., & Doering-White, W. (2013).
Mental Health Issues of Children of Unauthorized Parents in the United States: A Hidden Crisis. Journal of Community Positive Practices, XIII(3), 25-35. Excerpt from www.jppc.ro/reviste/JCPP%20Nr.%203%202013/articole/art02.pdf In all states, confirmation of paternity (legal paternity) is required for courts to issue custody or support orders for unmarried parents. But how you can determine paternity depends on your condition. In some states, it is sufficient to sign the child`s birth certificate. Elsewhere, you need to take additional steps. The determination of de facto filiation requires a decision. In some jurisdictions, standing is limited to the person claiming de facto parental status, and that person must meet the requirements with clear and convincing evidence. Normally, the person must have lived with the child, cared for the child and assumed responsibility for the child without expecting financial compensation, kept the child as the individual`s child, and established a related and dependent relationship with the child that is parental in nature.