Lawmakers move to overhaul antiquated parentage statutes.

Byline: Barry Bridges

Legislators are once again pushing to modernize Rhode Island's parentage statutes to make those laws more reflective of today's family structures, including LGBTQ families and those formed through surrogacy.

A parentage bill has been introduced for several years, and on Feb. 12 the Senate passed S. 2136A, which establishes clear paths to parentage for all children, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. It provides for many paths to legal parentage in the state, covering situations such as adoption, acknowledgment and assisted reproduction.

The sponsor, Senate Judiciary Chair Erin Lynch Prata, is hopeful that this year's version, modeled after the Vermont Parentage Act that went into effect in 2018, will ultimately be enacted.

"Rhode Island law needs to be updated so that the state no longer puts up unnecessary obstacles to loving parents simply because they are not heterosexual or have not conceived through traditional reproduction methods," the Warwick lawmaker said. "A very simple way of putting it is that it would bring us into the 21st century and would be more in line with how families are formed today."

Lynch Prata, who is also a family law practitioner, reported that the state's parentage laws have not been updated since the 1970s, at a time when assisted reproduction was less prevalent and decades before marriage equality.

"These are situations where people are required to take several extra steps to establish parentage, and that is not only unnecessary but, quite frankly, it's unfair. It forces people to seek court intervention to make their family a family," she said.

Lynch Prata emphasized that the Senate moved early in the session on the issue to make it clear that it was among the leadership's priorities.

Parental challenges

While repealing Rhode Island's current statutes on paternity, the 44-page bill speaks to the diversity of today's families and the different ways they are formed.

For instance, it ensures that all children, including those born through assisted reproduction, have a route to secure their parentage; provides standards for establishing parentage through surrogacy; clears a path for LGBTQ parentage, including through voluntary acknowledgement; sets up a process for non-biological parents, including de facto parents; and gives courts a clear standard to resolve competing claims.

Sen. Donna M. Nesselbush, a co-sponsor of the bill and a Providence attorney, said parentage issues...