The Washington
State supreme court on Thursday ruled that a woman who
raised a girl from birth to age 6 while living with the
child's biological mother can seek parental rights as
a "de facto parent," essentially creating a new class
of parent in the state.
"Today we hold that our common law recognizes
the status of de facto parents and places them in
parity with biological and adoptive parents in our
state," the court, led by Justice Bobbe J. Bridge, wrote in
the 7-2 decision. "Neither the United States
Supreme Court nor this court has ever held that
'family' or 'parents' are terms limited in their
definition by a strict biological prerequisite."
Sue Ellen Carvin, who goes by "Mian," sued her
former partner, Page Britain, in King County superior
court in November 2002, alleging that Britain had
unfairly cut off access to Britain's biological
daughter, identified in court papers as L.B. The two had
been together for about six years when they decided to
raise a child together. Britain was artificially
inseminated and gave birth in 1995. For the next several
years, Carvin stayed home to raise the girl, who called her
"Mama" and Britain "Mommy."
But a year and a half ago, Britain and Carvin
split. Britain married the sperm donor and
subsequently barred Carvin from seeing L.B.
The high court's ruling affirms a May 2004
ruling by the state court of appeals, which had ruled
that Carvin could seek parental rights to L.B. The
three-judge panel found that while Carvin did not have
standing under the state's Uniform Parentage Act, she
could seek status as a "de facto or psychological
parent" by presenting evidence of a parent-child relationship.
The high court remanded the case to trial to
determine whether Carvin is L.B.'s de facto parent.
"We strongly urge trial courts in this and
similar cases to consider the interests of children in
dependency, parentage, visitation, custody, and
support proceedings," the court wrote, adding, "To act on
their behalf and represent their interests would be
appropriate and in the interests of justice." (AP)
