DENVER—Two Indiana women are believed to be the first to adopt children under a new Colorado law that allows same-sex couples to adopt jointly.
Mary Ross and her partner, Jeannie DiClementi, finalized their adoption of Morgan DiClementi Ross, 4, and Evinn DiClementi Ross, 2, on Tuesday.
“People say, they need two parents. We say, they’ve got two parents,” said Jeannie DiClementi, 57.
The law took effect Aug. 4. Previously, gay individuals could adopt but not same-sex partners. Married heterosexual couples were already allowed to adopt each other’s children as stepparents.
Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, said the state has no way of tracking adoptions by gay couples because the law is so new.
The girls had been living with Ross and DiClementi in their Fort Wayne, Ind., home since May 2006, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Ross and DiClementi moved to Denver in December after a judge ordered the children returned to the state, saying Adams County officials had failed to properly document the reasons the children had been removed from their birth parents.
The birth parents eventually surrendered their parental rights, clearing the way for Ross and DiClementi to adopt the children.
Now that the adoption is final, the women expected to move back to Indiana with the girls.
Opponents of the same-sex adoption measure said it was aimed at promoting a “homosexual agenda” and paving the way toward civil unions for gay couples. They said Colorado voters rejected gay adoption last fall when they voted against Referendum I, which would have allowed couples who registered as domestic partners to adopt children.
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Information from: Rocky Mountain News,
