David D. Meyer

Partners, Care Givers, and the Constitutional Substance of Parenthood

The American Law Institutes Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution proposes to redefine legal parenthood. Among other innovations, the Principles would recognize some persons as parents on the basis of long-term care-giving, even without biological or adoptive ties to the child, and would allow for the possibility that a child might at once have multiple parents based on biology, adoption, and care-giving. This essay, written as a chapter in a book evaluating the ALI Principles, considers possible constitutional objections to state redefinitions of parenthood. It contends that the Constitution imposes meaningful limitations on the states freedom to constrict the boundaries of parenthood in a way that would exclude traditional parent figures. Yet, at the same time, it contends that the Constitution is more tolerant than many suppose of initiatives to extend parent status to non-traditional care givers. The article concludes that the ALIs proposals - which would extend parenthood to additional claimants without withdrawing parent status from more traditional figures - should therefore be deemed constitutional.