Unlike custody cases, a judge s discretion in deciding on an adoption petition is often curtailed or impacted by state law and decisions by higher state courts. Therefore, GLBT individuals face different rules governing adoption depending on where they live. Private-placement refers to adoption without the involvement of a state agent, which can occur through a private adoption agency, adoption of foreign children or adoption of a relative or friend s child. Agency adoption involves the adoption of a foster child who is in the care of the state and is placed for adoption through a foster care agency. Generally the foster parents seek to adopt the child after the child has been living with them for a prescribed period of time.
All states permit unmarried individuals to adopt through both private-placement and agency adoption.
However, states vary with regard to whether gay men and lesbians can adopt. However, the State Legislature repealed the law in 1999. Jefferson County District Judge Frank Plaut got the ball rolling with a 1998 custody decision. Plaut held that a separating lesbian couple would have joint custody of a daughter whom they were raising together. He based his decision on Colorado s Uniform Parentage Act, a statute that permits a biologically unrelated person to obtain custody rights when the person has had physical custody of a child for at least six months prior to a separation.