CHIPping Away at Our Families

It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that President Bush vetoed a bipartisan bill to expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). There’s lots of coverage about this in the mainstream press right now. Jennifer Vanasco of Visible Vote ’08, however, makes the excellent point:

The news is especially bad for gay parents.

Why? Well, The National Lesbian and Gay Task Force points out that 25 states have unclear laws regarding second-parent adoption.

Second-parent adoption is when a second parent of the same-sex can be added to the birth certificate without the first parent losing any rights. Usually, a birth certificate – or a marriage certificate, or adoption certificate – is the crucial document that enables the second parent to put a child on her health insurance.

What this means is that if the birth mother is staying home to take care of the couple’s child and the other mother is working, their child might not be able to get health insurance if they live in one of the 25 states where second parent adoption is unclear.

The Children’s Health Insurance Bill offered possibilities for coverage – but Bush has swept those away with the stroke of a pen.

The bill will return to Congress for a vote to override the veto. Families USA has an action center where you can write (again!) to your members of Congress. (Might want to mention the whole ENDA thing again while you’re at it—but pop over to Pam’s first for an update on the saga.)