The ever changing world of child custody litigation over the questions of the rights (and privileges) of adults serving in the role of parent despite the lack of any biological connection to the child at the center of a custody/access dispute has given a whole new meaning to the advertising slogan “you’ve come a long way, baby!” On Aug. 30 of this year the New York Court of Appeals issued its ruling in Brooke S.B. v. Elizabeth A.C.C., 28 N.Y.3d 1 (2016), which has been widely hailed for recognizing the rights to child custody and access of non-biological partners in same-sex relationships regardless of whether those relationships are marriages, civil unions, life partnerships, or other seemingly less permanent affiliations.

Often overlooked by those cheering the issuance of the Brooke S.B. decision are the facts that the precedent it established applies to heterosexual couples as well, that it is a victory for all non-biological parents regardless of gender, sexual orientation or marital status, and that the ultimate victors are the children themselves. Significantly, child custody/access litigation transcends the divorce process, the child support process, etc., and focuses on the definitional ordering of relationships between adults and children who have formed psychological bonds of parent and child without reference to biology.

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