Since then, their family has grown in size and celebrity, after their case went to the U.S. Supreme Court and helped make same-sex marriage legal across the country.
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The adoptions by Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer were granted Thursday in Oakland County Circuit Court, just north of Detroit. After 15 years of frustration and more than six years of courtroom battles, April DeBoer-Rowse and Jayne DeBoer-Rowse and their children are now legally a family.
While both women said they realized the importance of what they have accomplished, they look forward to shedding the media limelight and “just getting on with everyday life”. It’s finally over, and we’re finally a legal, protected family’.
Their adoption case ended up before U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman, who urged them to instead challenge the state’s gay marriage ban.
The couple married shortly after the Supreme Court in June ruled in favor of their case, deciding that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional.
April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse sued the state in January 2012 because they couldn’t be sure what would happen with custody of their three separately adopted children if one of the parents were to die.
April DeBoer, left, wipes away tears before Judge Karen McDonald, …
“I’m very honored”, she said before finalizing the joint adoptions of the children.
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Kent County Clerk Mary Hollinrake says making changes to these laws are completely out of her hands.
