A throuple in Quebec has adopted a toddler they’ve fostered for two years, but the dad trio is now waiting on a court decision to grant them full parental rights.

A ruling in the case will determine if the men’s years-long quest to become dads in the eyes of the law is finally successful.

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Eric LeBlanc, Jonathan Bedard, and Justin Maheu began fostering the now three-year-old baby girl two years ago. Her adoption through Quebec Youth Protection Services was finalized a week ago last Thursday.

The three men and their baby made history in Quebec as the first all-male throuple granted legal adoption in the province.

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“She’s perfect,” said LeBlanc. “She’s curious, she’s energetic. She loves to play, she loves to jump, she loves to dance.”

But a legal roadblock stands in the way: Quebec doesn’t legally recognize more than two parents per child.

That fact was a dealbreaker for the first adoption agency the men applied with.

But after working with a lawyer, they approached another, which they said was more open to their relationship. The agency started the evaluation process.

“Through that process, they learned that we are a little different because we’re three, but we’re not different from any other family,” LeBlanc said.

Eventually, the three men were matched with their daughter and fostered her for two years before they were approved for adoption two weeks ago, CTV reports.

While Canadian provinces Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan already legally recognize throuples as parents, Quebec has resisted.

That could change soon.

In April, a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled that limiting legal parental rights to only two people violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects Canadians’ “right to equality.”

The case was filed by three other families seeking parental rights for more than three people: another throuple, including two women and a man; a woman incapable of pregnancy, whose husband had a child with a friend; and a lesbian couple and their sperm donor.

The families are represented by La Coalition des familles LGBT+, a community advocacy organization that “seeks social and legal recognition for families of sexual and gender diversity.” 

The judge gave the government a year to change the civil code governing adoptions.

“It’s not about stepparents or other potential realities, it’s really about three people sitting together saying, ‘We should have a child together,’” said Marc-André Landry, a lawyer who represented one family involved in the case, following the favorable ruling. “No one should be treated differently because of their family status.”

But the Quebec government is holding firm in its opposition to recognizing more than two parents and filed an appeal in the case.

LeBlanc, Bedard and Maheu say they’re hopeful the courts will affirm the Quebec judge’s decision.

“We think that either way, it might go all the way to the Supreme Court,” LeBlanc said. “But we’re saddened from the fact that we’re not backed by our government, which is supposed to be an open government that wants to help every single family.”

Right now, just two of the dads are listed as parents while the third is still fighting for recognition.

“We talk about what would come up if we split up or someone dies, things like that,” LeBlanc said. “We do anticipate these things because we have to, because we’re not protected if it doesn’t.”

In the meantime, the three dads are sharing the responsibilities of fatherhood, just like any other parents.

“We are lucky to be three to give her all that support, but I think we are the lucky ones to have her in our life,” LeBlanc shared.

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