New push to let Dutch kids have up to four parents
The VVD submitted a private member’s bill that would allow a child to have a maximum of four parents, divided between a maximum of two households. Currently, children are only allowed to have two parents. So in situations with more, the other parent isn’t allowed to approve medical treatments, enroll a child in school, or take them on vacation abroad, among other things.
This bill will especially help families in the LGBTQIA+ community. VVD MP Ingrid Michon-Derkzen was specifically thinking of situations in which two women have a child with a man, or two men have a child with a woman. But it will also help blended families after divorce, for example.
The current law causes problems in daily life, for example, at school, in the hospital, or with inheritances, Michon-Derkzen said, according to NU.nl. “With this bill, we will legally enshrine what has long been a reality in practice. Legislation lagged behind current practice; this law will rectify that,” she said.
The bill stipulates that multi-parenthood must be granted by a judge before pregnancy, so it won’t help families currently living in such a situation.
Dutch parliament has been discussing options for multi-parenthood since 2016, but no legislation has been passed yet. Former State Secretary Teun Struycken advised against it, saying it would be too expensive. According to him, there are approximately 150,000 such families in the Netherlands.
The LGBTQIA+ advocacy organizations COC Nederland and Meer dan Gewenst called the bill “a crucial step forward for multi-parent families,” ANP reported. “Children and parents in multi-parent families deserve the same legal protection as other families,” said COC and Meer dan Gewenst.
The organizations have been advocating for this recognition for almost two decades. They called it good and necessary that parliament is now taking action. “Whereas the Cabinet recently decided to put the issue on hold.”
