• Because the status of de facto parent is subordinate to that of legal parent, a person who expects to be afforded the status of parent should, if possible, adopt the child. The primary function of this conceptual status is to provide courts with a means for maintaining a relationship between a child and an adult who has functioned as a parent when that adult is prohibited from legally adopting the child. The status is usu. limited to a person who has assumed the role of parent with the knowledge and consent, either express or implied, of the legal parent. But it may also arise when there is a total failure or inability of the legal parent to perform parental duties. Cf. equitable parent; psychological parent.
de facto parent
An adult who (1) is not the child’s legal parent, (2) has, with consent of the child’s legal parent, resided with the child for a significant period, and (3) has routinely performed a share of the caretaking functions at least as great as that of the parent who has been the child’s primary caregiver without any expectation of compensation for this care.
