Confirmatory Adoption Offers Clarity for Assisted Reproduction

Confirmatory adoptions are an easy and accessible way to create security and peace of mind for families formed via assisted reproduction.

Assisted reproduction refers to a broad range of medical procedures used to address infertility and help individuals or couples conceive a child. These techniques involve the handling of eggs, sperm, or embryos outside the human body for the purpose of conception. Assisted reproduction has transformed the possibilities of parenthood for millions of people around the world, including but not limited to many same sex couples and other nontraditional families.

When the genetic material used to conceive the child belongs to both of the intended parents, and one of the intended parents carries and delivers the child, there is no question as to each person’s role as the child’s legal parents. However, in situations where a couple utilizes genetic material from a donor to conceive a child and/or a surrogate to carry and give birth to a child, it is prudent to take some extra steps to ensure there is no question as to both parent’s rights.

This DE Insight discusses the evolution of Rhode Island law governing parentage for families formed through assisted reproduction—from the traditional adoption process and the 2020 Uniform Parentage Act to the state’s 2024 creation of confirmatory adoption. It explains how confirmatory adoption provides a simplified, secure method for nonbirth parents to obtain legal recognition of their parental rights, eliminating many of the burdens of traditional adoption and strengthening protections for modern families.

Background on the Adoption Process

For many years, couples who utilized genetic material from a donor to conceive their child and/or a surrogate to give birth to their child were forced to go through the cumbersome and stressful process of traditional adoption to cement their parental rights in the form of a court order. The traditional adoption process can involve home studies from child protective agencies, criminal background checks of the parents, and notice to donors or surrogates after birth to terminate their parental rights.

But in 2020, the Rhode Island legislature’s enactment of the Uniform Parentage Act changed the rules (R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-8.1). (2020) (the “Parentage Act”). The Parentage Act codified 1) that donors of genetic material do not have parental rights and 2) that persons who consent to assisted reproduction with the intent to be a parent of a child conceived through assisted reproduction are the parents of the child, whether or not they are genetically related. The enactment of the Parentage Act allowed both intended parents to put their names on the child’s birth certificate at the time of the child’s birth as their parents, regardless of their biological relationship to the child.

Although the passage of the Parentage Act represented a significant step in acknowledging the parental rights of persons who conceived a child via assisted reproduction, many non-biological parents were still left feeling vulnerable without a formal order declaring them to be the legal parent of the child.

Concerns included what would happen to their status as a parent if changing political climates caused statutory repeals, interstate recognition of their parentage in the event of travel or a move, rights of inheritance for the child upon the parent’s death or the death of a family member, equal rights to the child in the event of a divorce or separation, and potential third‑party challenges to their parentage in the future.

In 2024, Rhode Island responded to these concerns by creating the process of confirmatory adoption (R.I. Gen. Laws § 15-7-27). Confirmatory adoption allows parents of children conceived through assisted reproduction to obtain a court decree confirming their parental rights without undergoing the burdens of traditional adoption, such as home studies, investigations, or notice to donors or surrogates. This process is available to couples who participated in assisted reproduction together and ensures that both the non-gestational parent and/or the parent whose genetic material was not used in conception can have their parental status formally recognized. By streamlining the legal process, confirmatory adoption provides families with clarity, security, and protection for their parental rights.

What Makes Confirmatory Adoptions Unique

What makes the confirmatory adoption process unique is that, with some limited exceptions, the statute specifically bars judges from requiring notice to and/or consent from a donor in the confirmatory adoption process. Likewise, with some limited exception, courts cannot require a home investigation or home study, notice to or approval by the Department of Children, Youth and Families, or a criminal record check of the petitioner(s)—all of which are common steps in a traditional adoption proceeding.

Once the confirmatory adoption decree is entered, the nonbirth parent is legally identified as a parent, and the parent-child relationship is definitively established.

The decree is a final legal recognition of parentage that is recognized from state to state under full faith and credit principles.

A confirmatory adoption decree provides an extra layer of protection and works to resolve any ambiguity in inheritance, custody, and parental rights, and avoids future challenges of parentage.

The confirmatory adoption process expands upon the rights created by the Uniform Parentage Act by allowing for a streamlined adoption process, resolving residual uncertainties for families, without the stress of litigated parentage proceedings.

Laws From State to State

According to the Uniform Law Commission, 22 states across the country have adopted some version of the Uniform Parentage Act. As of 2025, only 10 states have adopted the 2017 version, which includes gender-neutral language and provisions for same-sex couples and children born through assisted reproduction. Those states are: Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut.  Approximately the same number of states have some form of statutory confirmatory adoption process.

Although the laws governing parentage differ from state to state, the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution ensures confirmatory adoption finalized in Rhode Island will be honored in any state in the U.S.  Likewise, confirmatory adoption completed in any other state will be recognized in Rhode Island. (U.S. Const. art. IV, §1.1).

Conclusion

The Rhode Island Uniform Parentage Act and the advent of the confirmatory adoption process mark a significant and welcome development in adoption and parentage law. For families formed through assisted reproduction, they offer a path to formalize parent-child relations in a way that is efficient, less burdensome, and more legally secure.

This process significantly reduces traditional obstacles to adoption for nonbirth parents and is a strong tool for intended parents in Rhode Island.

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