Interstate Recognition of Adoptions: On Jurisdiction, Full Faith and Credit, and the Kinds of Challenges the Future May Bring

Abstract

This article discusses two issues involving parent-child relationships: (1) whether adoptions are subject to full faith and credit guarantees and (2) whether states are free to ignore a sister state's custody or visitation decree if such a decree violates local public policy. The foci of the discussion are Finstuen v. Crutcher in which the 10th Circuit struck down an Oklahoma statute precluding the state from recognizing both of a child's same-sex parents and the Miller-Jenkins v. Miller-Jenkins cases in which Virginia and Vermont courts had to decide which state court had jurisdiction to resolve custody and visitation issues arising from the dissolution of a Vermont civil union. The article suggests that while decided correctly, these cases illustrate some of the difficulties that same-sex parents and their children may face in the future to the detriment of the families themselves and society as a whole.

Keywords: adoption, full faith and credit, custody, visitation, DOMA, PKPA, public policy

JEL Classification: J12, J13, K10