LGBTQ+ COUPLES ARE calling for full parental rights, as some mothers and fathers are still “legal strangers” to their children ten years on from the marriage equality referendum.

Equality for Children, a representative group for LGBTQ+ parents, are to meet with the health minister next week after what they say has been a decade of “broken promises”.

Many LGBT people are not legally the parent of their child, even if they’re biologically related. In the case of women, it is often only the person who carries the baby that can be a legal parent, depending on how and where the child was conceived.

Equality for Children CEO Ranae von Meding had her first child in 2016, the year after Ireland voted in a referendum to allow same-sex couples to get married. She carried the child, but her wife is the biological mother.

“We assumed that because we had passed Marriage Equality only a few months before that, our family would be treated like any other married family,” she said.

We looked into it further and realised actually Marriage Equality had done nothing for children of LGBTQ+ couples in Ireland.

Von Meding has had to register as a single parent, despite living with and being married to her children’s biological mother.

“I just couldn’t understand the lack of progress, and the broken promises of what the people of Ireland thought they voted for, which was equality.”

While the other parent in a same-sex couple can apply for guardianship, their child must live with them for at least two years.

Von Meding’s third child is still under two years old, so her wife and his biological mother can’t be a guardian.

I’m his only legal parent, and if I walked out today and, say, got hit by a car, he would be orphaned.

“He does not have a legal connection or legal relationship with his other parent, and there is no avenue to get him one at present.”

He was also conceived in a fertility clinic outside of Ireland, which the Children and Families Relationships Act does not cover. It only covers female LGBT couples who used an Irish fertility clinic.

Equality for Children says that unequal rights for parents causes unneccesary complications for children, such as with medical treatment, school enrollments, foreign travel, tax and inheritance rights.

The new Assisted Human Reproduction Bill, which has been enacted but has yet to be commenced, would see equal rights extended to same sex couples who had children through non-clinical insemination, but only if they were born prior to 2020.

It will not cover anyone who has used fertility clinics outside of Ireland, anyone whose children were born abroad, or anyone who was not a resident of Ireland when a surrogacy arrangement took place.

These are among the issues the group plans to raise with Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill during the meeting next Thursday.

They’re also calling for any future legislation to have paramountcy principal, meaning that if someone does not meet all the criteria necessary to have parental rights, a judge has discretion to make a decision on their case.

“It would mean that it’s not so black and white because, as we all know, family formation is not black and white. At the end of the day, it’s all about what’s in the child’s best interest,” said von Meding.

“Without the paramountcy principle, we know for a fact that there will be children who slip between the cracks and fall outside of the parameters of whatever legislation is brought through.”

Von Meding is hopeful that Minister Carroll MacNeill will be receptive to their recommendations, despite the delay.