Peer to Peer Magazine

32 For same-sex marriages, the process is almost always confusing, slow, invasive, and expensive due to uncertainty and outdated laws. Further, the same outdated state laws and practices are confusing to health care providers which results in inaction as they wait for some much needed clarity about the issues. C R E AT E D B R A N D I N G A N D B U S I N E S S P L A N We first defined our target users. This included same-sex couples preparing to have a baby, same-sex parents facing legal and administrative challenges after having their child and health care providers aiming to properly assist same-sex couples. This focus highlighted the need to partner with an LGBTQ* organization to eventually become the face of the solution and take it to the community. We then identified other critical partnerships to move this solution forward. Law Schools Ongoing maintenance will be needed to ensure accuracy of the information provided via the application. With their strong social commitment and base of intelligent and enthusiastic students, law schools seemed like a natural fit to keep the application up to date. We are currently working to develop a curriculum for students to learn how to research the issues and update the application using cutting edge legal technologies employed by many AMLAW firms today. Local Law Firms The solution will aim to provide central access to publicly accessible information. It will not provide legal advice applicable to specific couples' circumstances. Even with the right information, enforcing one's parental rights may prove challenging. Therefore, we will provide a referral base of local attorneys with experience in protecting family rights for LGBTQ* parents. 1 2 Legal Technolo Companies The prototype solution was built using Neota Logic. Given their commitment to diversity and corporate citizenship and strong ties to law schools, we thought Neota might want to contribute. To date our conversations with Neota and a few other legal technolo providers have been very encouraging. Corporations The best time to ensure correctness of a birth certificate is before it's issued and the best time to prepare to enforce parental rights is before they are challenged. Corporate partners whose customers are new and expectant parents could be a wonderful avenue to raise awareness of the issues that often are not on radars until after problems arise. Fortunately, many of the largest and most respected corporations are also committed to LGBTQ* causes and we are exploring partnerships with organizations that will allow parents to be proactive. We look to do the same locally with birthing centers, fertility clinics, etc. The following model recognizes the importance of the strengths each partner brings to bear: 3 4 B U I LT P L AT F O R M Knowing our target audience, our partnership business model, and initially focusing on Missouri, our team forged ahead with building the proof of concept we named "B-Ceen". B-Ceen, short for Birth Certificate Education and Navigation, is an online, user-friendly application that aims to provide same-sex parents and health care providers with information and resources on the legal issues affecting same-sex parents' rights with their child's birth certificate including: • Practical steps expectant parents can take before the baby is delivered • State laws and regulations pertaining to birth certificates granted to same- sex parents • The process to amend an existing birth certificate Powered by Neota Logic's intuitive user interface and industry leading decision tree engine, same-sex couples can find succinct, current and easily understood information about legal issues they may encounter by answering a few simple questions such as whether the baby will be delivered at a hospital or at home. This may help others avoid the weeks of confusing research, dead end phone calls and red tape Kristi, a practicing attorney, and her wife endured while preparing for the birth of their son. P R E S E N T E D I S S U E , P R O G R A M , A N D B U S I N E S S P L A N Once the solution was built, we presented everything to a panel of judges who provided encouragement and practical tips to help move the application forward. Though we did not win the hackathon, we successfully created a working proof of concept ready to scale, a novel business model with several leads already aligning, and the approach tested and backed by industry experts who agreed it could succeed. Imagine that- an alignment of partners to solve a specific

• Cover