Banning Gay Adoption Would Cost Foster Care System $130 Million
| Tue Mar. 27, 2007 9:00 AM PDT
Half a million children in the U.S. live in foster care, and more than 100,000 await adoption. Finding stable, permanent homes for these youth, "forever families," is a priority, and a proven way to positive outcomes for youth. Still, it's up to states to recruit and evaluate potential foster and adoptive parents, and most states turn away viable parents who happen to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Currently three states—Florida, Mississippi and Utah—have outright bans on adoptive parents who are homosexual. Several other states have or are considering policies that would restrict LGBT couples and individuals from fostering or adopting a child. Florida forbids "homosexuals" from adopting; Mississippi bans "same-gender" couples, and Utah bans all unmarried couples.
Some states: California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington DC, actually protect potential adopters by prohibiting sexual orientation from being used as a basis to prevent a prospective applicant from being a adoptive or foster parent.
But throughout most of the country LGBT folks face all kinds of barriers to adoption. This, despite the fact that they are already raising children in significant numbers. According to census figures, gathered by the Williams Institute in a new study released today:
-More than one in three lesbians has given birth, and one in six gay men have fathered a child.
-65,500 adopted children are currently living with a lesbian or gay parent, amounting to four percent of all adopted children in the United States.
-10,300 foster children are living with lesbian or gay parents.
-Nearly 52,000 lesbian and gay households include an adopted child under the age of 18.
The study finds that not only can homosexuals be parents, they can be good parents! They have many of the traits states specifically seek out in foster and adoptive parents: They are, on average, older, more educated and have more economic resources than other foster and adoptive parents.
If states enact laws that prevent such adoptions children currently placed with existing LGBT foster parents would be removed from those families. Nationally, an estimated 9,300 to 14,000 children would be displaced.
Aside from the psychological and other harm that would come from displacement (fewer foster care placements are associated with better school achievement, greater life satisfaction, greater overall stability, more placements with higher rates of juvenile detention, etc.), there is a pure economic argument to be made here for allowing gay foster and adoptive parenting. Like banning gay marriage, the the economic cost of banning LGBT people from adopting and fostering would be significant. Williams Institute estimates that a national ban on gay adoption would result in costs to the foster care system of up to $130 million.
The price to pay, some say, for "family values."
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Comments
I guess it's better to have two dads or moms rather than a crappy mom and dad raising a kid. However, I think it's best for a kid to have the influence of BOTH a MOM and a DAD- I think it shapes kids on how they end up in life- I know I've learned different things from my mom and dad and this is important. I guess if this is not an option, a homosexual couple is the next best thing. However, this will soon be a thing of the past- a doctor in Sweden is developing a way for men to have anal babies- very fascinating research going on here. This will change the whole dynamic of the family once men can rear children out their ass. C-Section, anyone?
I think it's funny that the same people who hasten to argue that some gay men are far too "effeminant" and some lesbians are too "butch" turn right around and say that _all_ gays are too masculine to be good role models in a motheresque role and _all_ lesbians are too feminine to be good role models in a fatheresque role.
I see so many single-parent households, and households with a mother and father where one or the other is completely absent, and the percentage of these children who turn out "good," in comparison to "good" children from "normal" families tends, in my observations, to be the same. It matters less what your parents have between their legs and more how much love and support they show you.
Until we can wrap our feeble little human minds around this, and stop denying it in typical United Statesian fashion, then this rather stupid conundrum will continue.
I was raised by a transgender homosexual pack of wolves and I turned out okay.
Austin is right- it's not about what is in between the legs but rather the love in heart. Love in the heart can bring oneness to the world and compassion. My heart radiates love upon thee, the world I shine my love upon thee. My heart gushes love and openness- I am a dolpin swimming in a sea of harmony.
Society needs to open its eyes in some states. There are too many children in foster care now that are dying to have parents. Not all male and female couples raise children successfully and give them loving homes. How often are children molested by neighbors, parents,uncles, aunts etc. in such homes? Just because a person choses a different lifestyle does not mean they cannot raise a child.
I was raised in a strict Mississippi home, but have since moved to different parts of the country and formed my own opinions. My daughter I adopted was a lesbian for years and was in a relationship with a woman who had two children and my daughter had a child herself. They were both good parents. They even talked about marriage but were scared to go through with it for they feared their kids would be taken from them. Children need love, guidence, teachings of right and wrong, etc. Its not right to deny someone the privilege to be a parent because of their gender or lifestyle.
A child needs a mother and a father.
Which is why the government should ban divorce. And any behavior that might lead to one or both parents dying before the child has reached the age of majority.
We should also bring back the Biblical provisions about marrying your brother's widow, just to make sure that every child has a mother and a father.
Which they need.
i agree,but its strange to me that someone would think that because you sleep with the same sex all your friends are also the same sex.(children need a male and female role model) i agree they do and i know plenty of gay couples who have very very close bonds with friends of the opposite sex..how come they do not fall under a role model?
an old thread here, that i had unfortunately missed
it was good to find my state listed among those that prevent the use of sexual orientation in determining who is a suitable parent
were it not, i think i'd be harrassing my state legislators and writing letters to the editors of local newspapers on the issue
If someone is a good parent they are a good parent, if they pass the "screening" process then they pass, there is no debating that fact. So, why cant homosexuals adopt in some states when if they would go through the "screening" process they would pass? Well, its because people are stupid and they think that they are higher on the totem poll then everyone else. It would save the United States $130 MILLION. Everyone is trying to save money so why not pass a law that would give someone the freedom that they deserve and save them money? I just don't understand I guess. I mean, if you read all the research it says that a child raised by a homosexual couple turns out just as "normal" as a child who came from a heterosexual couple. I mean, it saves money and there is no harm in it? So, why not? I guess that will always be a question pondering in my head. I was raised by one parent, my mom, I saw my dad every once in a while, but avoided him at all costs does that make me not "normal"? Then, I guess 50% of Americans are not going to be normal because the divorce rate is so high, yes some can remarry but still, that's again a different house situation. Hopefully, one day the stuck up politicians and the greedy Americans will get their heads out of their asses and they will finally come to the conclusion that homosexuals can adopt and start a family that they have always been wanting. It's the only right thing to do, allow people the rights that they deserve.
http://www.okeyodasi.com
Submitted by okey oyna (not verified) on Fri Feb. 13, 2009 4:43 AM PST.
thanks
