Committee hears support, questions for bill to streamline confirmatory adoptions for families using assisted reproduction

Montpelier — Advocates, a chief superior judge and committee members on the legislative Judiciary committee spent more than two hours discussing a draft bill that would create a streamlined confirmatory-adoption process for families formed through assisted reproduction.

Supporters said the bill would give intended parents a simple path to an adoption decree that complements existing parentage remedies under the Vermont Parentage Act. "It gives ... an adoption order, which states other states must recognize," Family Equality attorney May Giorg told the committee, arguing the change would protect Vermont children when families travel or move.

The bill’s supporters said it would not expand who is recognized as a parent in Vermont but would provide a faster, less onerous option than the existing stepparent/partner adoption process, which several witnesses described as awkward for families formed by assisted reproduction. "These are families that are created intentionally," Giorg said. "We are not going to treat them as exceptional under the law." She added that confusing forms, requests for letters of recommendation and other process hurdles deter some families from seeking protection.

Why it matters

Proponents said the measure would give families an additional, confirmatory adoption order that courts in other states are more likely to recognize under full faith and credit principles. That consistency, witnesses said,…