Dallas Divorce Law Blog by Michelle O'Neil

I am involved in several family law cases in the Dallas area with LGBT parents suing for conservatorship or visitation/possession rights to their children or their former partner’s children.  One of my clients referred me to this website as a resource and I thought it was important to share it with you:  www.colage.org  Here’s the purpose of the site, as it lists:  “COLAGE is a national movement of children, youth, and adults with one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) parents. We build community and work toward social justice through youth empowerment, leadership development, education, and advocacy.”  The website also provides a book list for LGBT parents, which I thought was interesting.

The Dallas Voice featured an article about one of my cases this week. You can read about it here: Lesbian Custody Fight Dallas Voice 050908

Gay and lesbian partners can have more difficulty in parenting disputes, especially for the nonbiological parent. Here, I represent a nonbiological mother who fights to have standard access to the daughter born during her relationship with her partner. The safest way for my client, or those in her situation, to have protected herself was to adopt the child right after birth. Nothing in Texas law prevents a child from having two parents of the same sex. An adoption establishes legal parenthood for a person. Short of adoption, a nonbiological parent’s best route is to seek a formal court-ordered relationship with the child as soon as the two partners break up. This protects your rights, under the law, as a person with whom the child has lived. The longer you wait, the more tenuous it will be to establish your rights with the child.