If you are not the biological parent of a child and you are not married to the biological parent, but you have a strong parent-child relationship with your partner’s child when your relationship with the biological parent ends, you can still have rights to the child as a legal parent. Step-parent visitation rights is an issue currently under debate in the 3rd District Court of Appeals, and is something you should talk about with your Southern California family law attorney.
According to the 3rd District Court of Appeals you may have parental rights with a minor child that you have a strong parent/child relationship with even if is clear you were never the biological parent. The law already recognizes that there are rebuttable presumptions that make a person a presumed parent under the Uniform Parentage Act. The question becomes what if you are clearly not the biological parent of the child but you still treat the child as if it is your own, and the child is bonded to you as his/her parent? Can you then qualify as a presumed parent?
The Third District court seems to suggest that you could. It has reversed a lower court’s finding of no presumed parent status in a case known as E.C. v. J.V. 2012 DJDAR 720. The Appellate court has directed the lower court to review the case but instead of focusing on the nature of the two co-parents relationship, focus on the nature of the relationship between the child and the non-biological parent. This reversal and underlying opinion seems to “validate the strong interest the state has in fostering the relationship between children and parents and focuses on that relationship as opposed to the relationship between the two parents.” This is phenomenal news for step-parents seeking visitation rights with their step-children.
Any involved parent of a child would tell you that this is how it should be. Once a strong parent-child relationship has been developed it is detrimental to the child to break that bond simply because the two acting parents romantic relationship didn’t work out. The focus should be on what is the bond between the parent and child and should that bond be recognized as strong enough to now be legally protected.
Clearly the courts are being required to closely consider all non-traditional families and consider what it means to be a presumed parent, even if you were never married or if you are a same sex couple. If you are a step-parent parent who has bonded as a parent with a child in a relationship that is now ended or ending you may still have rights as a legal parent. This is extremely complex law that requires the assistance of a child custody attorney. Don’t give up hope and don’t tackle this issue on your own.
5 years ago, I would not have supported step parent visitation, but after having gone through court to obtain visitation with my grandchildren, after they were removed from their parents and placed with my ex, I totally understand that the bonds formed between a child and person acting as a parent (I had parented my grandchildren for over a year), are to be respected. My only concern with a step parent is that visitation might not continue once that step parent has moved on, into another relationship and that could hurt the child. If contact lessens over time because of the child’s activities, that would be OK.
Hi Laurel,
Its a tough call, and one that needs to be taken on a case by case basis. When the kids are very young, and the step-parent is the only father/mother that a child knows, then it is important not to break that bond. Thank you for your comments.
Do you think that the amount of contact the child has with both bio parents would impact the importance of maintaining the step parent bond?