Up until June of 2004, Cori Collins was the stay-at-home mom of the two children she and her former partner Karen Monti were raising together. While Monti worked a full-time job outside the home, Collins's days were consumed with taking "Lisa," who is now 6-years-old, and "Joanie," age 3, to playdates, the park or watching them play together at home. "I saw the kids bonding, I saw them love each other, I would play with them," says Collins. "Karen would come home later in the evening either after the kids were fed and I'd have dinner ready for her so I was like 'the typical housewife.'" (The names of the children mentioned in this article have been changed to protect their identity.)
Standing in the kitchen of Collins's West Newton home on a recent Saturday morning, Collins's attorney, Paul Neustadt, is holding a photo of the family in happier times. It shows the two moms huddled next to each other in front of a Christmas tree. Each holds a child in her lap. "This is what this case is about," says Neustadt. "Is what you see there a family or not?"
That's now a question for Suffolk Probate and Family Court Judge John M. Smoot, as Collins and Monti completely disagree on the answer. Collins says yes. Monti, in her affidavit responding to Collins's complaint, says no. (Monti's attorney, Jo Ann Citron, declined to comment for this story; she also declined to allow Monti to be interviewed.)
Complicating the situation is the fact that Collins is Lisa's only adoptive parent; Monti is Joanie's only adoptive parent. The couple never completed second-parent adoptions of the children - although after Collins brought Lisa home from Russia in May of 2000, Monti became her legal co-guardian. Collins and Monti ended their nine-year relationship in June 2004.
http://www.baywindows.com/media/paper328/news/2005/10/20/News/Ties-That.Dont.Bind-1027103.shtml
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