FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 1, 2026
CHICAGO – During these times of unrelenting attacks by the federal administration against the lives of LGBTQ+ people, advocates highlighted the full effective date on January 1, 2026 of a critical new Illinois statute that ensures the state’s laws see and respect every family, including LGBTQ+ families and families formed through fertility health care and surrogacy. The Equality for Every Family Act (Public Act 104-0448) provides expanded protections for children in Illinois to ensure equitable access to a secure legal family.
The Equality for Every Family Act provides stronger alignment between the state’s parentage and surrogacy laws and the Uniform Parentage Act of 2017 and modernizes the existing laws with current science and fertility health care.
Taking effect on January 1, 2026 is a significant provision that expands the voluntary acknowledgement of parentage (VAP) process so more parents can acknowledge their rights and responsibilities to a child regardless of whether they are married to the person who gave birth to the child. These acknowledgements happen immediately after the child’s birth in the hospital without the need for an attorney or judge. Previously, VAPs in Illinois applied only to paternity and, therefore, only a man could acknowledge his parentage. The Equality for Every Family Act allows a partner in a same-sex relationship to provide that same acknowledgement of parentage and thereby undertake all the rights and responsibilities for the child. Without the Equality for Every Family Act’s changes to the VAP, the only method by which same-sex couples could establish their parentage is by hiring an attorney and going to court. Fourteen other states have modernized their VAP provisions to be more efficient and fair: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Other parts of the Equality for Every Family Act are already in effect, including provisions to:
- Establish a uniform and streamlined confirmatory adoption provision throughout the state for children born through fertility health care (where the intended parents are already recognized as the legal parents). Eleven other states have enacted confirmatory adoption statutes: California, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia; and
- Update the assisted reproduction and surrogacy provisions in the Parentage Act and the Gestational Surrogacy Act to better align with the UPA of 2017.
Sponsored by Senate President Don Harmon and State Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl and approved last month by Governor JB Pritzker, the Equality for Every Family Act was advanced by Equality Illinois and the Chicago Therapy Collective with best practice technical expertise provided by legal experts from across the country. The Equality for Every Family Act is supported by a diverse group of organizations, including the Chicago Therapy Collective, GLAD Law, Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association, Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, Uniform Law Commission, Illinois AFL-CIO, Chicago Federation of Labor, Personal PAC, Sierra Club Illinois, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Planned Parenthood Illinois Action, and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Action.
