## Facts

- Angel Lace M. was born in 1986 and was jointly adopted in 1988 by Georgina G. and her then-husband, Terry M., making both legal parents.
- Georgina and Terry separated in 1990 and divorced the same year; Terry’s involvement thereafter was largely limited to paying court-ordered child support.
- Georgina entered a committed relationship with Annette G.; they lived together with Angel, and Annette functioned as a parent.
- In 1992, Annette petitioned to adopt Angel as a second parent while Georgina remained a legal parent.
- Georgina also sought termination of Terry’s parental rights; Terry consented.
- The circuit court found Annette’s adoption would be in Angel’s best interests but denied the petition because the adoption statutes did not authorize it.
- The court of appeals certified the case to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether Wisconsin’s adoption statutes permit a nonmarital partner to adopt the minor child of the partner’s companion while leaving the companion’s parental rights intact (a “second-parent” adoption).
2. If not permitted, whether the statutory scheme violates constitutional rights of the child or the adopting third party.

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court’s denial of the adoption petition.
- The court held the adoption statutes did not permit a third party to adopt the child of a nonmarital partner while preserving the existing parent’s rights.
- The court held the relevant provisions of ch. 48 did not violate the constitutional rights of either the child or the prospective adoptive parent.

## Legal Principles

- Adoption under ch. 48 is generally substitutive: absent a specific statutory exception, adoption either requires prior termination of existing parental rights or results in termination of those rights by operation of law.
- The stepparent-adoption exception is limited to the statutory definition of stepparent (the “husband or wife” of the legal parent) and cannot be extended to nonmarital partners by judicial interpretation.
- A statutory directive to construe the children’s code liberally and to treat the child’s best interests as paramount guides interpretation within statutory bounds but does not authorize courts to create adoption categories not provided by the legislature.
- There is no recognized fundamental constitutional right to the specific legal arrangement of a second-parent adoption by an unmarried partner; the statutory scheme is upheld under rational-basis review as a permissible legislative choice about family-status and adoption structure.

## Conclusion

The court concluded that Wisconsin’s adoption statutes, as written, did not allow a nonmarital partner to become an additional legal parent through adoption while the existing parent retained parental rights, and that denying such an adoption did not violate due process or equal protection.


In re Interest of Angel Lace M., 516 N.W.2d 678 (Wis. 1994)