Family Law

Massachusetts Issues First 3-Parent Birth Certificate

Although this first birth certificate is a strong step forward, Massachusetts is overdue for an update to its parentage laws.

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In a momentous first for the state, last week the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics (RVRS) issued its first three-parent birth certificate.

I spoke with Massachusetts family law attorney — and the force behind the new dawn in state documents recognizing legal realities — Joyce Kauffman. Kauffman explained that while this was the first time RVRS has issued a three-parent birth certificate, Massachusetts courts have long been legally recognizing three-parent family structures through adoption.

When the first three-parent adoption orders were being issued more than 20 years ago, RVRS was unlikely to amend a birth certificate accordingly. The state arm has always been strictly rule-driven, Kauffman explained, and has been without a rule, or an appropriate form, explicitly permitting the issuance of a more-than-two parent birth certificate.

This past year, when Kauffman’s clients were petitioning for a three-person adoption order, she suggested to her clients that they could request that the court order RVRS to issue a new birth certificate including each (and every) parent. But even with the court ordering it to be done, Kauffman was not 100% sure RVRS would make it happen. It took a while — from May 2021, when the court’s order was submitted to RVRS, until August, when the birth certificate was issued — but Kauffman and her clients were pleased when RVRS did, indeed, issue the appropriately modified birth certificate.

Kauffman believes this first three-parent birth certificate paves the way for other families in the state to request birth certificates to be corrected to be more accurate. In fact, Kauffman is excited for her own, now 37-year-old daughter to be able to have a birth certificate issued that recognizes all of her parents.

Many Forms Of Families. Kauffman has spent almost 30 years providing legal representation for all forms of families in Massachusetts, with a particular focus on those in the LGBTQ+ community. Kauffman explained that there are many forms of families where more than two adults are fully functioning as parents of a child but not receiving the legal recognition or the rights and responsibilities (such as being able to register a child for school, to provide health insurance, or to seek custody, etc.) that importantly come with legal recognition. Some of these families involve a grandparent or a step-parent fully immersed in the role of a parent. Other families start with three or more persons planning a family together with the intention that all will parent the child. (Check out this podcast interview with Indra Lusero describing their household raising two kids with four parents.)

Time For Updated Parentage Laws In The Commonwealth. Although this first birth certificate is a strong step forward, Kauffman explained that Massachusetts is overdue for an update to its parentage laws. A revised version of the uniform parentage act has been introduced to the Massachusetts legislature this session and would bring greater clarity and protection to the modern realities of family formation, especially those turning to assisted reproductive technology. At the moment, Massachusetts has only one statute specific to parentage through assisted reproductive technology, and the language of that statute only addresses married couples who conceive through “artificial insemination.”

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This session’s introduction of the revised uniform parentage act is the third attempt for the state. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm. In the meantime, huge congrats to Kauffman, her clients, and the many families in the state with more than two parents raising a child with a new opportunity for greater recognition of their family structure.

Ellen Trachman is the Managing Attorney of Trachman Law Center, LLC, a Denver-based law firm specializing in assisted reproductive technology law, and co-host of the podcast I Want To Put A Baby In You. You can reach her at babies@abovethelaw.com.

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