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The judge believed that there was no mother-child relationship between the two.
By Megan Quinn — Written on Feb 17, 2023
A mother has found herself in a devastating and unfathomable situation after being forced to give up custody of her young son since she is not his “legal parent.”
Her story has gained national attention and has LGBTQIA+ advocate groups up in arms as her rights as the boy’s mother were unfairly stripped away from her.
Custody of the woman’s son was given to her sperm donor after a judge ruled him the ‘legal parent.’
When Kris Williams and her ex-wife, Rebekah Wilson of Oklahoma decided to have a child of their own, they opted to use a sperm donor to conceive.
Using the app “Just A Baby,” which would make such donations possible, the couple contacted a man named Harlan Vaughn, who has fathered 13 other children by being a donor.
Through a series of at-home, non-medically assisted inseminations, Wilson became pregnant in December 2018.
She and Williams got married six months later and welcomed their baby boy in August 2019.
Williams told KFOR that she and her wife were listed as the mothers on their son’s birth certificate.
Unfortunately, two years later, the couple ended their relationship, and Wilson and their son moved in with Vaughn.
She also ordered a Victim Protective Order against Williams in November 2021.
Soon, Wilson and Vaughn began a romantic relationship and wanted legal status as the boy’s parents.
Vaughn filed a Petition for Adjudication of Paternity and Establishment of Custody and Visitation in January 2022.
According to legal filings, Williams was not mentioned in the donation agreement.
Wilson entered a sperm donor agreement with Vaughn although Williams was not included in the paperwork.
This small detail would sadly be enough for Judge Lynee McGuire to declare that she was “not the child’s mother” and grant custody to Vaughn and Wilson due to their biological ties with the boy.
McGuire believed that since Williams did not give birth to or adopt her son, she could not be granted rights as the child’s mother.
The court ruling referenced Oklahoma’s Uniform Parentage Act, which is specific on how parent-child relationships are established.
It does not take same-sex marriage or artificial insemination into account, however, it does consider adoption.
“Williams, through her testimony and exhibits presented during the trial, admitted she and Wilson discussed adoption. Furthermore, Williams admitted she knew that under Oklahoma law she needed to adopt the minor child to establish parental rights,” the ruling read.
“Williams chose not to adopt. Williams testified that she didn’t believe it was fair that she would have to seek court intervention to establish parental rights of the minor child… The reality is that the law provides a legal remedy available to Williams. She knowingly chose not to pursue it.”
Williams shared that her title as the boy’s mom is something that the court can never take away from her.
“I can tell you that that brings a lot of anger and emotion on me,” she told KFOR in tears over the court ruling. “Why? Just why?”
Despite the heartbreaking ruling, she still considers herself the little boy’s mother, and nothing would ever change that.
Williams and her lawyer are appealing the case to the state Supreme Court.
Robyn Hopkins argues that there is not a sufficient precedent for the ruling.
“It’s the first kind of case with these facts,” she claims. “There is [no] case law precedent for these facts.”
“One thing I can say is Kris is on the birth certificate of this child and they were married. I mean, to me, it’s logical. It’s black and white. But again, we don’t have case law in Oklahoma to support that. They were married. Marriage is legal. Same-sex marriage is legal in the state of Oklahoma. And they had a child. So, there’s a child of the marriage.”
She also added that same-sex couples should not have to adopt their own children if they use a sperm donor to conceive one.
“Show me where the case law says that gay people have to adopt their own children?” she asks. “Why do gay people have to have a home study and a background check to adopt their own children and pay upwards of a couple of thousand dollars and go to court to make it official?”
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.