Adoption laws driving gay couple from Arizona

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Last week, Jeanine, Nichole and Isaac Soterwood left a home they loved, solid careers and a wide circle of friends.

The state of Arizona does not allow them to be a legal family, so the Soterwoods moved from Tucson to California, where Nichole and Jeanine will file papers to become the legal parents of Isaac, who is 22 months old.

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Like most other states, Arizona law does not allow unmarried couples to do what's known as second-parent adoption — when the non-biological parent adopts a partner's child.

Stepparents in heterosexual unions can adopt the children of their spouses in Arizona. Gay couples can be foster parents. And gay people, as long as they are single, can adopt. But couples like the Soterwoods, who can't legally marry here, can't both be parents of a child.

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More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/azstar/20051222/lo_azstar/2ndparentcurbsdrivingsamesexcouplefromariz