Marlo's Law Colorado: Confirmatory Adoption Without a Home Study

Enacted in 2022, Marlo's Law fundamentally changed the confirmatory adoption process in Colorado for families who have a child through assisted reproduction. Before this law, a non-biological parent in a same-sex couple or an assisted reproduction arrangement had to complete a full home study, submit to fingerprinting and background checks, and navigate the same procedural burden as a stranger seeking to adopt a child they'd never met. Marlo's Law recognized that this was absurd and fixed it.

What Is a Confirmatory Adoption

A confirmatory adoption is not an adoption in the traditional sense — it doesn't involve a birth parent relinquishing rights or a child welfare proceeding. Instead, it's the legal step through which a second parent (who is not biologically related to the child but has a legal right to be their parent) formally establishes that parent-child relationship through the court.

The most common scenario: a same-sex couple has a child through assisted reproduction — donor egg, donor sperm, or a gestational carrier. One parent is biologically connected to the child. The other is not. Both intend to be full legal parents. But without a formal court process, the non-biological parent's legal relationship to the child is not as secure as it should be — particularly when traveling across state lines, dealing with healthcare systems that demand "proof" of parenthood, or planning an estate.

Confirmatory adoption creates an unambiguous legal decree of parentage. It's often described as a "belt and suspenders" approach to legal parenthood for families where any ambiguity might exist.

What Marlo's Law Changed

Before 2022, anyone seeking a confirmatory adoption in Colorado had to complete:

• A full SAFE home study
• CBI and FBI fingerprint-based background checks
• TRAILS child abuse registry check
• An in-person court appearance

This burden made no logical sense for parents who had already been legally parenting their child from birth, often with a co-parent agreement or gestational carrier agreement in place. Marlo's Law, codified at C.R.S. § 19-5-203.5, eliminated these requirements for qualifying confirmatory adoptions.

Under Marlo's Law, families who meet the criteria can:

• Skip the home study entirely
• Skip the fingerprinting and background checks
• In many cases, complete the process without an in-person court appearance (by declaration instead of hearing)

The result is a process that can be completed in 30–60 days rather than 6–12 months, at a fraction of the cost.

Who Qualifies for Marlo's Law

To use the simplified confirmatory adoption pathway under C.R.S. § 19-5-203.5, the following conditions generally must be met:

The petitioner must be the intended parent of a child born through assisted reproduction. This includes situations involving:

• Donor sperm or egg with the petitioner's partner as the biological parent
• Gestational carrier/surrogacy arrangements
• Embryo donation

The child must be the couple's child through assisted reproduction — not a child whose relationship arose through a romantic relationship outside the current partnership, not a foster child, not a stepchild situation where a prior relationship was involved.

A legal co-parenting or reproductive agreement may be needed — in many confirmatory adoption cases, there was a prior legal document (donor agreement, gestational carrier agreement) that establishes the intended parents' status. This documentation helps the court process.

The biological parent must be the petitioner's spouse or civil union partner, or in a documented co-parenting arrangement.

The law specifically defines the scenarios it covers. If your situation doesn't clearly fit — for example, if the child was born before the couple was together, or if the assisted reproduction arrangement has unusual features — consult an attorney to confirm whether you qualify for the streamlined process or need the standard adoption pathway.

What the Confirmatory Adoption Process Looks Like Under Marlo's Law

1. Prepare the petition. The petition for confirmatory adoption can be filed by declaration (a written sworn statement) rather than requiring an in-person hearing in many cases.

2. File in the appropriate court. Confirmatory adoptions are filed in the District Court in the county where you reside.

3. Provide supporting documentation. This typically includes the gestational carrier agreement, donor agreement, or other documentation establishing the reproductive arrangement and the petitioner's intended parent status.

4. Court review. The court reviews the petition and supporting documents. If everything is in order and there are no contested issues, the court issues the Final Decree of Adoption without a formal hearing.

5. New birth certificate. After the decree is issued, you can obtain an updated birth certificate listing both parents.

The entire process can be completed in 30–60 days for straightforward cases. Compare this to the 6–12 month timeline for traditional adoptions requiring a full home study.

Cost of Confirmatory Adoption Under Marlo's Law

Because the home study and background checks are eliminated, the primary costs are:

• Court filing fee: approximately $167
• Attorney fees for petition preparation: $500–$2,000 depending on complexity
• Total: typically $700–$2,500

This compares favorably to the $3,000–$5,000 that a full home study alone would have cost under the prior law.

Why This Matters for LGBTQ+ Families

Colorado has been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ family rights for years, but legal security for both parents in a same-sex couple with children through assisted reproduction was still procedurally burdensome before 2022. Marlo's Law is particularly significant because it removes a real practical barrier — one that many generalist family law attorneys still aren't fully aware of.

The 2025 market research found that many LGBTQ+ Colorado families pursuing confirmatory adoption were still being steered toward the full home study process by attorneys unfamiliar with Marlo's Law. If an attorney quotes you a six-month process with a full SAFE home study for a confirmatory adoption of a child born through assisted reproduction, ask specifically whether they've considered C.R.S. § 19-5-203.5.

Same-Sex and Non-Traditional Families Beyond Confirmatory Adoption

Marlo's Law specifically addresses the confirmatory adoption scenario. Same-sex couples pursuing foster-to-adopt, private agency adoption, or kinship adoption use the standard adoption pathways — those involve home studies, background checks, and the standard timeline. Colorado law prohibits discrimination in adoption and foster care licensing on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, so LGBTQ+ families have full access to all adoption pathways.

The Colorado Adoption Process Guide covers both the standard adoption pathways and the Marlo's Law confirmatory adoption process, including which situations qualify for the streamlined route and how to document your eligibility for the petition.

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