HOW WRONG CAN A COURT BE??

Very wrong, if it's the highest court in Maryland and they are considering same-sex couples raising children. Today the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that, after the end of an 18 year relationship that included raising a five year old child together, the mom whose name was on the child's adoption decree could exclude the mom whose name wasn't on the decree from the child's life. The court said that a "de facto" parent has no more ability that a grandparent, babysitter, teacher...or stranger to receive custody or visitation rights. The trend in the states is in the other direction...towards recognizing the reality of a child's family. We need the Maryland General Assembly to fix this next term! In the District of Columbia, we've got a statute that would protect Margaret's relationship with her daughter, because Margaret could prove by clear and convincing evidence (that's technical for LOTS of evidence!) that she is Maya's de facto parent, and in DC a de facto parent and a parent have the equal right to custody and visitation and the equal obligation to pay child support.