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"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 13, 2009
Florida Court of Appeals Holds that
Florida Must Honor Second-Parent Adoptions by Same-Sex Couples
( San
Francisco , CA , May 13, 2009)—Today, the Florida Court of Appeals unanimously
reversed a lower court ruling and held that Florida must give full faith and
credit to adoptions granted to same-sex couples by other states, holding that
Lara Embry, the plaintiff in the case, “must be given the same rights as any
other adoptive parent in Florida .” The court based its decision on the Full
Faith and Credit Clause of the federal constitution and a Florida statute
requiring Florida to honor adoption decrees from other states. Noting that
“there are no public policy exceptions to the full faith and credit which is due
to judgments entered in another state,” the court concluded that “regardless of
whether the trial court believed that the Washington adoption violated a clearly
established public policy in Florida, it was improper for the trial court to
refuse to give the Washington judgment full faith and credit.” A concurring
opinion further noted that Embry’s “same-sex relationship with [the other
parent] is irrelevant for the purpose of enforcing her rights and obligations as
an adoptive parent.”
The case arose when Lara Embry filed a petition
seeking shared custody of a child she had raised with her former partner,
Kimberly Ryan. The couple had two children together. Each gave birth to one
child, and each adopted her non-biological child through a second-parent
adoption in the state of Washington , where the family lived. The couple moved
to Florida , and their relationship ended several years later. They agreed to
share custody of both children and did so successfully until Ryan unilaterally
decided to separate the children, who are deeply bonded as siblings, and cut off
all contact between Embry and one of the children.
The National Center
for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Leslie Talbot, of Leslie M. Talbot, P.A.,
represented Lara in her initial suit for shared custody. In February 2008, a
Florida trial court held that Florida would not recognize the couple’s
second-parent adoption. NCLR, Karen Doering, and the law firm of Carlton Fields
represented Lara in the appeal. Former Judge John R. Blue and Cristina Alonso,
attorneys with Carlton Fields briefed and argued the case before the Second
District Court of Appeal on March 18, 2009.
“We are pleased this
decision resolved an important constitutional issue and protected the legal bond
between adoptive parents and their children,” said Blue. “The court affirmed the
longstanding rule that Florida must honor valid adoptions from other states,
which ensures the permanence and stability of parent-child relationships across
state lines.”
Friend-of-the- court briefs supporting Embry and urging
the court to clarify Florida’s obligation to honor second-parent adoptions from
other states were submitted by the Center for Adoption Policy, the Evan B.
Donaldson Adoption Institute, the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy,
the University of Florida Center on Children and Families, the University of
Miami School of Law Children and Youth Clinic, and Professors Mark Brown, Joan
Hollinger, Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, Erwin Chemerinsky, Sharon Rush, and Robert
Schapiro.
The case is Lara Embry v. Kimbery Ryan, No. 2D08-1323, (Fla.
2d DCA May 13, 2009).
http://www.nclright s.org/site/ DocServer/
Embry_Opinion_ 05_13_2009. pdf?docID= 5761
"
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