Louisiana Adoption Case Could Be Heard By High Court

The Supreme Court has been petitioned to hear a case after the Louisiana State Registrar refused to grant a same-sex couple their adopted son’s birth certificate, naming both as parents.  

The New York couple, Oren Adar and Mickey Smith, adopted their son in 2006 and requested an accurate birth-ceritficate in 2007 so that the child could be included under Smith’s health insurance. The Registrar Darlene Smith refused to recognize the adoption because the State of Louisiana does not recognize adoptions by unmarried parents. 

The parents and Lambda Legal filed suit against Louisiana citing that the adoption decree presented in New York must be adhered to and respected in Louisiana. They also claim that Smith violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause and Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution when she did not recognize the adoption as legitimate due to the marital status of the adoptive parents. 

Ken Upton, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s South Central Regional Office said that “by treating adopted children whose parents are unmarried worse than other adopted children, Louisiana violates two well-established federal constitutional protections, both of which embody principles of equal treatment and unify us as a nation.”

“First, the constitution mandates that Louisiana, like every other state, must treat all out-of-state adoption judgments equally,” Smith argues. “Second, Louisiana may not treat adopted children themselves differently based on the marital status of their legal parents.”

He later added, “The state of Louisiana cannot withhold a birth certificate  for this child simply because it doesn’t like who his parents are.”

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