law.yale.edu/cpa@wecarect@wecarect/wecarect

The Connecticut Parentage Act (CPA)ensures all children have equal access to thesecurity of a legal parent-child relationship,regardless of the circumstances of theirbirth, or the marital status, gender, or sexualorientation of their parents.

Right now, Connecticut parentage law isoutdated and unconstitutional, and itleaves many children without the protectionof a legal relationship with their parents.

The CPA ensures that parentage lawreflects and protects the great diversity of families in Connecticut. The bill clearlystates who can establish legal parentage and how to establish parentage. The CPA fills gaps in existing protections and ensuresaccess to legal parentage for all children,including those with unmarried, same-sex,or non-biological parents.

All children will have equal access to securing their parent-child relationships.

Connecticut parentage law will be constitutional and will reflect best practices.

Court procedures will be more accessible, efficient, and consistent.

W h a t i s p a r e n t a g e ?

Benefits of the Connecticut Parentage Act:

CONNECTICUT PARENTAGE ACT

Bill Summary

Protecting children's parental relationships

Parentage refers to the legal parent-childrelationship, and this legal bond is core to achild’s stability and security. Legal parentagecomes with a number of rights such as custody,parenting time, and decision making. And italso comes with a number of responsibilitiessuch as providing care, financial support, andhealth insurance.

W h y i s e s t a b l i s h i n gp a r e n t a g e s o i m p o r t a n tf o r p r o t e c t i n g c h i l d r e n ?Establishing parentage quickly ensuresthat a child is secured to their parents for allpurposes and increases clarity for all involvedin a child’s life. This is particularly importantif a problem arises; for example, legal parentsare able to make medical decisions, to providehealth insurance and other benefits, and toensure that their child inherits in the eventof death.

HB 6321Bill sponsors: Rep. Jeffrey A. Currey, Sen. Alex Kasser,

Rep. Raghib Allie-Brennan, Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, Rep. Nicole Klarides Ditria,Rep. Jason Rojas, Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey

Does not protect children’s relationships with unmarried, non-biological parents and instead treats those parents as legalstrangers to their children, regardless of how long they havebeen parenting or how deep the parent-child bond. CT is theonly New England state without protections or paths toparentage for non-biological parents to establish their legalparent-child relationship. Does not protect LGBTQ couples raising children and leavesthe relationship between the non-biological parent and childvulnerable.Does not provide LGBTQ parents access to parentage throughan Acknowledgment of Parentage, which is the simpleadministrative route that establishes parentage at the time of birth.Does not protect all children born through assistedreproduction by securing the relationship between intendedparents and their children.Lacks clear standards to protect all involved in the surrogacyprocess, including both the intended parents and the personacting as the surrogate.

Current Connecticut law:

Jane and Lia carefully planned to create a family.They are a long-term committed couple, and theyare not married. They used in vitro fertilization(IVF) to conceive. Lia contributed her eggs, andembryos were created using donor sperm. Jane carried the baby. When their baby was born, Jane and Lia were not allowed to sign anacknowledgment of parentage form to establishtheir joint legal parentage. Their only option is togo through a long, burdensome and costlyadoption process. With the CPA, Jane and Liawould be able to protect their child right afterbirth, at the hospital, like other families.

Sally is a non-biological mother who co-raised her partner's child, conceived through assistedreproduction, since infancy. The couple nevermarried. For 8 years, they lived together as afamily, and both considered Sally a parent. When the couple separated, the birth motherdrastically reduced Sally’s access to their child as she was the only legal parent and held all of the decision-making power. Current law has no clear standards or recourse to protect thisparent-child relationship and to ensure that thechild continues to have a relationship with Sally.With the CPA, Sally would have a path to secure her relationship with her child.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Connecticut | American Society for Reproductive Medicine | Center forAdvanced Reproductive Services at UCONN | Center for Children's Advocacy | Connecticut ACLU | COLAGE | Connecticut Gay &Lesbian Chamber | Connecticut Voices for Children | Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund (CWEALF) | The FerraraLaw Group, P.C. | Fertility Within Reach | Freed Marcroft | GLAD (GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders) | Gay Parents to Be atReproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut | Greater Hartford Legal Aid | National Association of Social Workers – CTChapter | New England Fertility Society | New England Surrogacy | New Haven Pride Center | PFLAG Hartford | PlannedParenthood of Southern New England | Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut | Resolve New England | Resolve: TheNational Infertility Association | Triangle Community Center | True Colors | Worldwide Surrogacy Specialists, LLC | Yale ChildStudy Center | Yale Fertility Center | Yale Medicine Greenwich Fertility | Dr. Sandra Carson, Chief of the Division of ReproductiveEndocrinology and Infertility, Yale School of Medicine | Professor Douglas NeJaime, Yale Law School* | Dr. Hugh Taylor, Chair ofObstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale School of Medicine & President of the American Society forReproductive Medicine | Yale Law students*   *Affiliation is provided for identification purposes onlyThe We CARE Coalition is made up of CT families and partner organizations.

The CPA was drafted in consultation with and reviewed bystate agencies including:Connecticut Probate CourtConnecticut Judicial Branch: Support Enforcement ServicesConnecticut Uniform Law CommissionersDepartment of Social ServicesDepartment of Public Health & Vital RecordsDepartment of Children & FamiliesLegislative Commissioner's OfficeOffice of the Attorney General

Gaps in Current CT Lawthat leave children and families vulnerable

It is critical to secure all children equally –

marital and non-marital alike.

How the CPA Will Help Families

Roughly 37% of CT childrenwere born to unmarried parents in 2016

P H O T O B Y M A R T I N R . S M I T H

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CT has the second highestrate of births through

assisted reproduction inthe country

These children deserve equalprotection of their parentage

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law.yale.edu/cpa

Sourceswww.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr67/nvsr67_01.pdfwww.glad.org/nepwww.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/ss/ss6703a1.htm

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THE CONNECTICUT PARENTAGE ACT IS SUPPORTED BY:

@wecarect