Can a same-sex domestic partner jointly adopt a child with the child's natural parent?

7 This is not unique to same-sex domestic partners. Others often find they cannot maintain their close personal ties with children in the face of objection by their parents. (See White v. Jacobs (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 122, 243 Cal.Rptr. 597.)

8 Although the validity of an adoption in these circumstances is not before us, we note that Civil Code section 221 provides, in part, that "[a]ny unmarried minor child may be adopted by any adult person ..." We see nothing in these provisions that would preclude a child from being jointly adopted by someone of the same sex as the natural parent. (Cf. Marshall v. Marshall (1925) 196 Cal. 761, 767, 239 P. 36.)