B.C.'s new Family Law Act is the first to allow birth certificates with more than 2 parents
By Catherine Rolfsen, CBC News,Feb 06, 2014.
A Vancouver baby has just become the first child in British Columbia with three parents listed on a birth certificate.
Three-month-old Della Wolf Kangro Wiley Richards is the daughter of lesbian parents and their male friend.
"It feels really just natural and easy, like any other family," said biological father Shawn Kangro. "It doesn't feel like anything is strange about it."
B.C.'s new Family Law Act, which came into effect last year, allows for three or even more parents.
Della's family is the first to go through the process, and they finalized the birth certificate registration last week.
B.C., which is celebrating Family Day on Monday, is the first province in Canada with legislation to allow three parents on a birth certificate, although it's been achieved elsewhere through litigation.
The new Family Law Act, which came into effect in March 2013, aims to clarify who is a parent and who isn't as more couples turn to assisted reproduction.
The act allow donors to be listed as additional parents, if the parents sign a written agreement before conception.
"The really big shift in the Family Law Act in terms of parents, is how you decide who's a parent," said findlay.
"In the old days, we looked at biology and genetic connections. And that's no longer true. We now look at the intention of the parties who are contributing to the creation of the child, and intend to raise the child. And that's a really, really big shift."
Della's parents say they've had overwhelming support from family, friends and their East Vancouver community.
"Of course there's the odd person who worries that we've stepped into something that doesn't have a precedent," said Richards.
"Now that it has come to fruition and people see that we're just this family doing our thing, it's real now, and it becomes much easier to digest for whoever had doubts."
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