Todduscraig's blog

The process for a second parent adoption in Colorado is very easy and does not require a lawyer. Basically there are three steps:

1. Get a home study prepared by a county Department of Social Services, Designated Qualified Individual, or Child Placement Agency and approved by the Department.

2. Download, complete and file the petitiion for adoption forms at your county court house. The website to get these forms is located at:

http://www.courts.state.co.us/Forms/Forms_List.cfm/Form_Type_ID/147

3. Go to court on your assigned date to make the adoption legal.

July 1, 2009

Today marks the first day that unmarried or same sex couples can file to be designated beneficiaries in the state of Colorado. Thanks to our legislature and governor, we can now receive a number of important rights to grant to the person of our choice including:

Property transfer

Designated beneficiary for life insurance, trusts, pension plans,and retirement plans

Hospital visitation

Medical decisions

Organ donations

Workman's comp benefits.

On Friday, January 18th, my husband's second parent adoption of our son Joshua became official, at least here in Colorado. We were the first couple here in ultra-conservative Colorado Springs in El Paso county (home of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, New Life Church, and former pastor Ted Haggard) to utilize the second parent adoption law, according to the judge.

It's a relief.

In a matter of weeks, we'll have a birth certificate with two dads listed as the parents. Everything's nice and legal now.

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Turns out that after cajoling our adoption agency into helping us, that we only had a week to file under the new Colorado law, otherwise the family study would have lapsed, and we would have had to start all over again. Luckily we filed just in time with days to spare. Our adoption agency said we could file in the Denver courts because we had filed there for my adoption back in May.

AJ went to the county courthouse, only to find that they didn't have anyone to lead the adoption meeting. Frustrated, we called our Denver adoption agency, who had refused to help us with AJ's adoption because he didn't meet their age requirement of 25. (He's 24 and 3 months.) After much back and forth and a few emotional emails, we finally got them to help us out a little bit.

My husband AJ is going to the court house today to begin the process for second parent adoption. The democratic legislature in Colorado just last year passed a law that allows for any second parent to adopt, which include gay couples. The El Paso county courthouse holds an informational session on the third Thursday of every month about the adoption filing process, and AJ's going there today to see what we have to do.

Trick or treat - it's a baby! Last year, Joshua was born. A Halloween baby! Isn't that like the coolest birthday???

Anyway, my husband AJ and I had only been on the wait list for a baby for barely six months. The adoption process of applications and background checks and home studies took like a year. We were the first gay male couple our Denver adoption agency had ever worked with, although they had worked with a few lesbian couples. They weren't sure what our wait time was going to be, but it was likely to be anywhere from a year to four years.