ST. CROIX — The Supreme Court of the Virgin Islands, in an opinion published on Wednesday, rejected a decision by the Superior Court to deny adoption rights to a same-sex couple living on the island, after the High Court carefully reviewed the decision and concluded that the Superior Court erred in denying the appellants’ petition for second-parent adoption, because, “regardless of whether their marriage is recognized in the Virgin Islands, 16 V.I.C. § 141 broadly provides that “any inhabitant of the Virgin Islands” may petition for an adoption.”
The same-sex couple, who got married in Canada in 2007, has raised the children here from birth, according to information provided in the court’s opinion, and the children’s biological fathers are anonymous sperm donors who “knowingly, intentionally, and effectively waived all parental rights.”
Because same-sex marriage is illegal in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the couple petitioned for adoption “in the best interest of the children,” arguing that there’s no provision in Virgin Islands Code that forbids the Superior Court from granting the petition. But the Superior Court disagreed and denied the adoption petition on September 18, 2013, opining that because the petitioners “filed together as spouses” under “a limited ‘spousal’ or ‘stepparent’” provision in the adoption statutes, and the Virgin Islands Code limits marriage to opposite-sex couples, it could not grant the adoption.
The same-sex couple did not relent, filing a move for reconsideration that was again denied by the Superior Court, which stated that it’s decision was based solely on its interpretation of the law, and not because it held any animosity against the petitioners or their marital status.
The same-sex couple then filed a motion of appeal with the Supreme Court, which has agreed to reopen the case for its consideration, “because the Superior Court misinterpreted the adoption statutes in denying the petition.”
The highest court of the land added that “even though the adoption statutes do not provide any exceptions to the operation of 16 V.I.C. § 146(b)—providing that an adoption decree terminates “all legal rights [of the natural parents] as respects the child”—a strict application of this provision would preclude any stepparent or second parent adoptions in the Virgin Islands and undermine the Legislature’s directive that the best interests of the child must be paramount in adoption proceedings.”
Read the full opinion here.
Feature Image Credit: Huffington Post/Getty Images
Tags: same-sex adoption us virgin islands, us virgin islands same-sex adoption
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