Friday, June 1, 2007

PROTECTING MY KIDS

There is an agency called RainbowLaw.com that creates legal packets specific to couples' needs in each US state. The goal of these forms is to protect families whose marriages are not recognized in the USA, or who do not wish to marry.

RainbowLaw has a packet aimed at the needs of Seniors, and one for unmarried heterosexual couples. The main goal of their work, however, is to help gay couples, whose marriages are ignored by the Bush Administration, overcome some of the many barriers to keeping each other safe. Because they specialize in this work, and do it out of community concern, the packets cost less than $300, a pittance compared to what a typical lawyer charges to make such forms from scratch.

We completed a RainbowLaw packet before our first child was born. We needed it at the hospital so I could make medical decisions for my wife and my genetic child. I would remain a legal stranger to the baby created from my egg until the birth certificate and Petition to Establish Maternity were filed the following week. For that reason, I needed a sheaf of forms with me at all times in case something happened.

And something did happen. After two days of unsuccessful attempts to give birth naturally to our 9-pound breech baby, he was born by emergency cesarean section. If I had not had those forms in place, my mother-in-law, who was 1,000 miles away and who did not support our relationship, would have had all the decision-making power for my wife and my genetic child.

It was recently time to redo these forms, due to the birth of my second child. Rainbow law charged less than $100 for the updates. No couple can afford to be without these forms. With the prices RainbowLaw charges, and the scholarships they provide, everyone can afford to have them. Do you?