Assigning newborn children to parents

My colleague, Mary Sue Backus, brought the following conference, sponsored by William and Mary's Institute of Bill of Rights Law, to my attention:

Task Force Roundtable:  Reforming Parentage Laws, Sept 30-Oct. 1

The brochure describes the roundtable:  "What would be an ideal set of rules for assigning newborn children to parents?  Participants in this conference will propose and defend statutory rules for state formation of legal parent-child relationships that they believe would serve the children's welfare better than exisitng rules for maternity and paternity, bringing to bear on this issue social science research on the consequences for children of particular characteristics and circumstances."

The assumption underlying this rountable seems to be that nature and nature's god are incapable of assigning newborn children to parents and that the state, relying on the "experts," must fill the void and enter the field of issuing parenting licenses. 

Michael S.