ATTORNEYS FILE APPEAL IN LESBIAN JOINT CUSTODY CASE: From the Associated Press

...Cheryl Clark legally adopted the girl from China with Elsey McLeod, her live-in partner, posing as her roommate. The two women intended to raise the girl together but ended up in a custody dispute after Clark converted to Christianity and the couple split up.

Last month, the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld the joint custody arrangement handed down by a Denver judge even though Clark's name is the only one listed on the girl's adoption papers. The appeals court said McLeod has become the child's "psychological parent" and that ending or curtailing visitation would put the 9-year-old girl at risk of "emotional harm." ...

"Live in boyfriends, past roommates or anyone else having an emotional attachment to a child could have the same right to make decisions about the child as the child's own fit, legal parent has," [Clark's attorney] Rouse said in a statement. ...

The American Bar Association has said courts in a handful of other states have upheld the rights of people who aren't legal parents but who have cared for children emotionally and financially. The cases involve both same-sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples.

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posted by Eve at 8:03 PM | link

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