Lesbian gets custody: Court says woman is the ‘psychological parent’

[ruggerson]

Score one for common sense justice. Small victories in battles like this eventually add up to winning the entire culture war.

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http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/200506184

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State Supreme Court says woman is the ‘psychological parent’ of the child

By Tom Searls
Staff writer

The West Virginia Supreme Court on Friday gave the lesbian partner of a deceased woman the parental rights over a 5-year-old child the two had been raising together.

The court recognized 39-year-old Tina Burch of Clay County, the lesbian partner of the late Christina Smarr, as the “psychological parent” of the boy, then ruled it would be in the best interest of the child to stay with Burch.

Smarr’s parents had been fighting Burch’s attempt to gain permanent custody of the child. The slim 3-2 decision is the first time the state’s high court has recognized the standing of a gay or lesbian parent to be a “psychological parent” and to grant them legal custody on that basis.

The court took into account that Burch and Smarr had planned for the birth of a child more than a year before he was born, finding a man to impregnate Smarr and then jointly raising the child.

“Thus, there unquestionably exists a relationship of significant duration between Tina and in which Tina has provided for the physical, psychological, financial and emotional needs of and such that the child regards Tina as a parental figure in his life,” Justice Robin Davis wrote for the majority.

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[HockeyMom]

1. There is precedence for this

In the cases of adoptive parents (psychological parents?) where the birth mother decides years later she wants the child back. In most of the cases the courts have ruled in favor of the adoptive parents because they are the only parents the child has known and has bonded with them, not the birth mother.

See the similarities? It is a very fair verdict - best interests of the child.

[Moderator]

2. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1559298