By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-952300.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Democrats at the state Capitol are calling for a law that would allow unmarried couples to adopt children. As we hear from Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta, state law only allows married couples or individuals to adopt children.
AUDIO:
State Representative Jeff Irwin says it makes sense to allow couples who want to adopt but can't get married to share the rights and responsibilities of raising children.
"Kids thrive in situations where they have two parents, and they struggle in situations where they have one, and so the state should be taking every possible opportunity to allow people to adopt kids in such a way as to ensure as many kids as possible have two parents," he says.
Irwin says joint adoptions would also make it easier to settle visitation and child support issues when a couple breaks up. It's not clear how Michigan's ban on gay marriage or treating same-sex couples as if they are married would affect the effort to allow joint adoptions.
A Michigan woman has asked the state Supreme Court to grant her custody rights over the children she was raising with her same-sex partner until they broke up.