Adoption and Family Planning
See also: LGBT parentingNew Hampshire law allows a person, regardless of actual or perceived sexual orientation, to adopt. A law banning adoptions by gay parents was repealed in 1999.
A 1987 state Supreme Court ruling by Justice David Souter stated that adoption laws are designed to give children one home "that is unified and stable." Judicial interpretations of this ruling and state laws have varied from county to county. Since 1999, all of New Hampshire's ten counties allow adoption provided the adoptive couple or individual is stable and can care for children. A complete criminal record check is required.
New Hampshire law allows any woman to undergo donor insemination. State law allows both married couples and those in civil unions to enter into contractual agreements regarding surrogacy, if all contracting parties are at least 21 years of age and follow the rules set forth in the state statutes.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In New Hampshire
Famous quotes containing the words adoption, family and/or planning:
“Frankly, I adore your catchy slogan, “Adoption, not Abortion,” although no one has been able to figure out, even with expert counseling, how to use adoption as a method of birth control, or at what time of the month it is most effective.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)
“In the years of the Roman Republic, before the Christian era, Roman education was meant to produce those character traits that would make the ideal family man. Children were taught primarily to be good to their families. To revere gods, one’s parents, and the laws of the state were the primary lessons for Roman boys. Cicero described the goal of their child rearing as “self- control, combined with dutiful affection to parents, and kindliness to kindred.””
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)
“Most literature on the culture of adolescence focuses on peer pressure as a negative force. Warnings about the “wrong crowd” read like tornado alerts in parent manuals. . . . It is a relative term that means different things in different places. In Fort Wayne, for example, the wrong crowd meant hanging out with liberal Democrats. In Connecticut, it meant kids who weren’t planning to get a Ph.D. from Yale.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)