Cases & Advocacy
Boe v. Marshall
On April 8, 2022, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed into law SB 184. The law directly targets transgender adolescents and their families by imposing criminal penalties on any individual, including parents and healthcare providers, who facilitate or provide essential medical care to transgender adolescents for the treatment of gender dysphoria.
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California Assembly Bill 2085
- Racial & Economic Justice > Race & Poverty
- Youth > Foster Care
- Relationships & Family > Reproductive Justice
- Relationships & Family > Parenting
Children of color are significantly more likely to be reported for allegations of abuse and neglect, despite the vast majority of those allegations being unfounded or unsubstantiated. LGBTQ parents of color are even more likely to lose custody of their children through the child welfare system. Even when families are not separated by the system, unnecessary investigation and surveillance of families by the system harms children by disrupting family dynamics and stability. Mandated reporters of possible child abuse and neglect are currently required to report families impacted by poverty. NCLR supports AB 2085, which would change the requirements for California mandated reporters of possible child neglect to reduce the number of families unnecessarily swept into the child welfare system simply based on poverty or bias.
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Map of U.S. Surrogacy Laws
Press & Media
NCLR Relieved by Narrow SCOTUS Ruling in Fulton Allowing Governments to Prohibit Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination
Press & Media
Michigan Court Recognizes Same-Sex Parents Have Parental Rights
Cases & Advocacy
Matthews v. LeFever
- Relationships & Family
- Relationships & Family > Parenting
- Relationships & Family > Reproductive Justice
LaNesha Matthews and Kyresha LeFever were a same-sex couple who had twins together using assisted reproduction. The Michigan Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that LaNesha and Kyresha are both equal parents to their children and recognizing that a woman who gives birth to a child intending to be a parent is a parent regardless of genetic ties.
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NCLR Statement on SCOTUS Denial of Cert in Case Regarding Rights of LGBTQ Families to Be Recognized on Children’s Birth Certificates
Cases & Advocacy
Henderson v. Box
- Relationships & Family
- Relationships & Family > Parenting
- Relationships & Family > Reproductive Justice
When Indiana began allowing same-sex couples to marry in 2015 after the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that same-sex couples have a right to marry in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Indiana Department of Vital Records refused to place same-sex spouses on their children’s birth certificates
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upEND Movement
NCLR supports the upEND movement to end the current child welfare system and replace it with a system that focuses on keeping children safe with their families, rather than on separating and regulating families of color. The existing child welfare system disproportionately surveils and separates Black, Native, and LGBTQ families, as well as families whose members have disabilities, causing deep and lasting harm to children and families. Racism is so deeply rooted in child welfare systems’ history, policies, and practices that they are not easily modified or revised. Rather, the system as we know it has to be ended in order to ensure racial equity. The upEND movement was begun by the Center for the Study of Social Policy.
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