A judge in Canada has declared two men and one woman in a polyamorous relationship to be the legal parents of a child, saying having three parents is in the child’s best interests.
“The relationship has been a stable one and has been ongoing since June 2015. None of the partners in this relationship is married and, while the identity of the mother is clear, the biological father of the child is unknown,” Justice Robert Fowler of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court said, according to Financial Post.
The judge didn’t ask for a paternity test to be taken.
“Although outside the traditional family model, (the relationship) provides a safe and nurturing environment,” Fowler said in the decision. “I can find nothing to disparage that relationship from the best interests of the child’s point of view. … To deny this child the dual paternal parentage would not be in his best interests. It must be remembered that this is about the best interests of the child and not the best interest of the parents.”
The three adults brought the case to the court asking that they all be recognized as the parents after the Newfoundland Ministry of Service told them that the Vital Statistics Act only allows two parents to be named on a child’s birth certificate.
Because the law doesn’t address polyamorous relationships, Fowler relied on a 2007 decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, which legally recognized a lesbian couple as the mothers of a child whose biological father was already deemed a legal parent.
“Society is continuously changing and family structures are changing…
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