March 11, 2021 at 9:02 AM
Shares12
This past week, three men broke the internet by publicly telling their story as the first polyamorous throuple (like a couple, but with three people) to all be legally named as parents of the same children. A California court named Ian Jenkins and both of his male partners as legal parents of their two children. Jenkins has a book out on their experience Three Dads and a Baby: Adventures in Modern Parenting.
Is this new?
Yes and no. California has permitted more than two parent families by statute since 2013. However, a particularly unique characteristic of the Jenkins’ ruling, aside from his polyamorous relationship (versus other forms of three-parent families that have been recognized) is that the dads received their rulings pre-birth of the children. Pursuant to California surrogacy law, and as is customary in many states, a court rules on the parentage of a child carried by a surrogate during the pregnancy. Jenkins described how the