LOS ANGELES, CA - November 6, 2011 - This week, Family Relations, an interdisciplinary journal of the National Council on Family Relations, published the first longitudinal study on dissolutions among lesbian couples whose children had been born after their relationships were formed. The study, based on interviews with 40 separated lesbian couples and their 17-year old adolescents, found no difference in the well-being between children who had been adopted by their co-mothers and those who had not.
However, the study did find that the mothers were more likely to be sharing custody if there had been a co-parent adoption, which provides legal recognition of the parental rights of both the biological and non-biological mothers. The former couples with co-parent adoptions also remained in their relationships significantly longer — on average four years longer -- than those without co-parent adoptions.
In addition, the percentage of 17-year-old adolescents who reported closeness to both mothers was significantly higher in families with co-parent adoption. Those adolescents also spent significantly more time with both of their mothers after the dissolution than those whose mothers had not had a co-parent adoption.
The new findings are from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), led by Williams Institute Distinguished Visiting Scholar Nanette Gartrell, M.D., and Henny Bos, Ph,D., who will be visiting with the Williams Institute from the University of Amsterdam in the Spring of 2012.
The study also found that most of these relationships (80%) dissolved before the mothers were able to enter into a legally recognized relationship in any state in the United States. In addition, almost three-fourths of the mothers overall were sharing custodyin contrast to a majority of divorced heterosexual mothers who have sole custody of their children. Shared childrearing after heterosexual divorce has been associated with more favorable outcomes for children.
While more research needs to be done on dissolutions among same-sex couples, these findings suggest the importance of having the parental relationships of both same-sex parents legally recognized. According to a recent report by the Movement Advancement Project, only 19 states and Washington D.C. currently have laws or court decisions clearly permitting co-parent adoptions by same-sex couples. Same-sex couples face uncertainty in 25 states about whether they can co-adopt, and in 6 states such adoptions are effectively banned.
About the Williams Institute
The Williams Institute advances sexual orientation law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates it to judges, legislators, policymakers, media and the public. A national think tank at UCLA Law, the Williams Institute produces high quality research with real-world relevance. For more information go to: www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/home.html