Trial in same-sex parental custodial rights under way in Missoula
The Great Falls Tribune reports:
A trial in the case of a woman seeking parental rights to children adopted by her former partner began in District Court here Thursday. Michelle Kulstad is seeking joint custody of two children — an 8-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl — adopted by Barbara Maniac . . .
Austin R. Nimocks, an attorney for Maniaci, said his client paid the cost of the children’s adoption, nurtured them and is their “fit, natural parent.”
“Undermining the rights of fit parents harms families and children,” said Nimocks, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a national conservative legal agency. “A natural parent who has never been declared unfit as a parent has the right to prevent access to her children by legal strangers.” . . .