CEO of Equality For Children, Ranae von Meding, has shared on social media that while her own family may receive legal recognition from the enactment of parts Two and Three of the Child and Family Relationships Act, many LGBT+ families are still being left in limbo.

The recent enactment gave the courts jurisdiction to make retrospective declarations of parentage – at the moment, this only covers certain families, and as Ranae shared, her family weren’t even sure it applied to them.

Ranae posted to social media, “Yesterday and today lots of LGBT+ families are having their declaration of parentage cases heard in Dublin, and being recognised as families for the first time. It’s a very exciting time and and a hugely important step for those covered by this legislation.

“We had been told all along that Reciprocal IVF was not covered by the CFRA. We questioned this again and again, and were told in no uncertain terms. No! Literally from the horse’s mouth so to speak. So we decided to go down the road of a court case against the state. Sometimes the only way to challenge these things is through the courts.

“We started that process a few weeks after Arya was born in January 2019. And finally a few weeks ago, after a lot of back and forth through our amazing legal team, we received the AG’s defence. Wait for it… they are now saying that we ARE covered!

“We were unable to have our case heard this month as the Dublin court was waiting on clarification as to whether the AG needed to be involved in our hearing. But we hopefully will be on the list for September.

“Its amazing news for us, and for anyone who has done or wishes to do Reciprocal IVF. And it will make us fight even harder for those children and families who still aren’t recognised. There is no reason why one child should be more equal than another.”

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The Equality For Children CEO further shared with GCN, “It feels like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for our family. While that is reason to celebrate, I’m keenly aware of all those families who are still left behind and in legal limbo. We’ve seen the first few steps towards full equality, but we have to keep the pressure on and fight until every single child of an LGBT+ family is equal.”

For more information and to help the cause, you can volunteer, donate and spread awareness by visiting the Equality For Children website here or by following the campaign on their Facebook page here.