A Mobile County adoption case that helped shape Alabama’s fight over same-sex marriage is nearing its conclusion, with a local mother set to formally become the legal parent of the child she has raised since birth.
Cari Searcy, who led a legal challenge that ultimately helped overturn Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage, is scheduled to finalize the adoption of her wife’s biological son later this month. The case had been tied up for years in Mobile County Probate Court and later in federal court, as Searcy sought the legal recognition that would give her equal parental rights alongside her wife, Kim McKeand.
Searcy first filed adoption paperwork in Mobile County Probate Court in 2011. A judge rejected the petition the following year, citing the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals later upheld that decision. Searcy’s attorneys eventually took the fight to federal court, where a judge ruled in February that she could not be denied the adoption.
The case saw additional delays after Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis recused himself, citing a separate related lawsuit, leaving the adoption in limbo until a new judge could be appointed to oversee it. That appointment ultimately came from Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, one of the most prominent opponents of same-sex marriage in the country, who named retired Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge James Reid to handle the case in early July.
Moore drew national attention earlier in the year when he directed the state’s probate judges to withhold marriage licenses from same-sex couples just before a federal ruling legalizing such unions was set to take effect. Despite his own public opposition to same-sex marriage, Moore’s appointment of Reid cleared the final procedural hurdle standing in the way of Searcy’s adoption.
David Kennedy, an attorney representing the couple, said the case’s resolution carries deep significance for the family. “This little boy is halfway through childhood now,” Kennedy said, noting that the child had lived roughly nine years without two legally recognized parents. “I’m hopeful and excited that he’ll have two legal parents for the second half.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage in June cleared away any remaining legal barriers to the adoption, allowing the Mobile County case to move toward final approval. Searcy shared the news of the judge’s appointment with friends and supporters who had followed the family’s yearslong legal journey, calling it a long-awaited step toward full legal recognition for her family.