Vermont family-law reform
Shared parenting.
Family continuity.
Children first.
When families change, children should not unnecessarily lose the people they love. We support families continuing to share parenting when parents are safe and capable, along with carefully limited protections for children’s established relationships with grandparents and the family of a parent who has died.
Child-centered
Focused on each child’s needs
Safe
Supported by evidence
Practical
Clearer orders, less conflict
Families evolved. The Parenting law did not.
Vermont modernized family equality—except after separation.
Vermont recognizes that families take many forms. A Reagan-era restriction still pushes those families toward one primary caregiver, with everyone else subordinate.
2000
Civil unions
Vermont expanded legal recognition for same-sex couples.
2009
Marriage equality
Marriage law caught up with Vermont families.
2018
parentage act
Parentage law recognized more ways families are formed.
NOW
Modernize SEparation
Parenting law should reflect the relationships children actually depend on
The issue in plain language
Vermont breaks its promise to put children first.
“the court should focus on the best interest of the child, not the best interest of the parent.”
Cloutier v. Blowers, Vermont Supreme Court (2001)
Vermont’s Promise
Children and their relationships come first.
1 · BEST INTERESTS
“The court’s paramount consideration in awarding parental rights and responsibilities is the best interests of the child.”
Begins v. Begins, Vermont Supreme Court (1998)
2 · SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
“Any agreement between the parents that divides or shares parental rights and responsibilities shall be presumed to be in the best interests of the child.”
Vermont Law: 15 V.S.A. § 666(a)
3 · parent-child relationships
“The interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children … is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests.”
Troxel v. Granville, U.S. Supreme Court (2000)
4 · Actual families
Vermont law has repeatedly changed to recognize that families and parenthood take many forms—recognizing parentage regardless of marital status for unwed, non-biological, adoptive, and assisted-reproduction parents, and confirming that a child can have more than two legal parents.
VS
The Reality
One parent’s refusal comes before the child’s needs.
1 · BEST INTERESTS
Even if shared parenting would serve the child, one parent can take it off the table—without giving a reason.
2 · SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
The child’s needs remain the same, but one parent’s refusal alone makes shared parenting unavailable.
3 · parent-child relationships
A child can lose critical relationships with parents because one parent refuses to share. No harm needs to be shown—even when shared parenting would serve the child best.
4 · Actual families
Vermont’s law was written in 1985 and predicated on the notion that a child forms a primary attachment to a one caregiver.
A Vermont law that puts one parent first cannot put children first.
Grounded in law, research, and experience
A longstanding problem.
A modern opportunity.
Our proposals draw on Vermont statutes and court decisions, peer-reviewed research, experience from other states, and the practical realities families face.
1997
A Vermont Supreme Court dissent warns that the law can reward a parent’s refusal to cooperate.
2012
Vermont Law Review examines the need for a modern shared-parenting framework.
2023
A systematic review evaluates 39 peer-reviewed studies of children’s living arrangements.
TODAY
The central statutory restriction remains, even as families, research, and safety protections have evolved.
Families may change. A child’s need for safe, lasting connections does not.
Who we are
Vermonters working to keep children connected.
Vermont Kids Connected is a volunteer-led coalition of parents, grandparents, family members, professionals, and concerned Vermonters. We advocate for child-centered, evidence-based reform that reflects all families, however they are formed, preserves safe family relationships, and gives courts practical tools for resolving disagreement.
Help move reform forward
Keep Vermont kids connected.
Learn about the reform, add your support, or share an experience that can help lawmakers understand what is at stake.