California bill would allow a child to have more than two parents

[alp227]

State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing legislation to allow a child to have multiple parents.

"The bill brings California into the 21st century, recognizing that there are more than Ozzie and Harriet families today," the San Francisco Democrat said.

Surrogate births, same-sex parenthood and assisted reproduction are changing society by creating new possibilities for nontraditional households and relationships.

Benjamin Lopez, legislative analyst for the Traditional Values Coalition, blasted Leno's bill as a new attempt to "revamp, redefine and muddy the waters" of family structure by a leader in the drive to legalize gay marriage.

(...)

Under Leno's bill, if three or more people who acted as parents could not agree on custody, visitation and child support, a judge could split those things up among them.

SB 1476 is not meant to expand the definition of who can qualify as a parent, only to eliminate the limit of two per child.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/02/4604048/california-bill-would-allow-a.html

[Confusious]

1. Sounds like the making of a mess

How many people are going to going back to court if they can't agree? We have enough problems with kids getting caught in between two parents. What if it was three or four?

Sometimes simple is better.

[Little Star]

2. I have to say I agree with you. Just more confusion for everyone.

[Nikia]

3. Some children do effectively have more than two parents

When tragedy strikes, some times one or more of the parents can be effectively cut out of a child's life. I am thinking of a couple of step parents who lost out on having any visitation rights to their children even though they were closer than the biological parents. Sometimes half siblings that have lived together all of the younger ones life are also permanently separated as a result of these cases if the grandparents don't fight for visitation rights and arrange for the kids to see each other.
Yes, a step parent can often adopt his or her spouse's or partner's child but sometimes they are unable to do that for a variety of reasons.