By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-912628.mp3
LANSING, MI –
A court decision that unmarried partners in Michigan do not have custody rights to children they helped raise will likely be challenged.
AUDIO:
The Michigan Court of Appeals issued an order last week without hearing any arguments. It said only biological or adoptive parents, or people who were married when a child is born can be recognized as parents. The loser in that decision was a woman seeking joint custody of the children she raised with her same-sex partner for a decade before they broke up.
Michigan does not allow unmarried partners to adopt children. Nor does it allow same-sex marriage.
Attorney Dana Nessel says she wants the chance to argue her case.
"We absolutely did not get our day in court," she says. "We were never granted a hearing, and so we are asking them to reconsider and allow us to present our case in full."
Nessel says if the Court of Appeals won't reconsider its decision, she'll ask the state Supreme Court to take the case.