Family Pride’s Blog

Congratulations to Rich and Michael Butler of San Jose, California! With the help of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Butlers just settled a case against Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com for their anti-gay practices.

In 2004, the Butlers were looking to adopt. They tried to post profiles on these two websites, which match prospective parents with adoptable children. Rich and Michael were denied access to these sites because they are gay. They sued, and after Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com lost the initial court battle, they agreed to settle.

Now Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com have a choice. They can either offer their services to all Californians or stop doing business in the state. The message here is clear: All children deserve loving, permanent homes. And all qualified adults should be given the opportunity to provide them.

Leave a comment for Rich and Michael. Congratulate them on their success. And share with us how you’ve faced discrimination in creating your family. Did you fight it? What’d you do?

The stories of your challenges and how you overcame them inspire your fellow LGBTQ parents. And they give us new thoughts and strategies in the fight for family equality.

So share! Share for a better world!

Gov Ritter signed the 2nd parents adoption bill into law yesterday making Colorado (home to the vehemently homophobic James Dobson and Focus on the Family) the 10th state to allow second-parent adoption (through statue or case law). In total, 18 other states allow second parent adoption in certain counties and municipalities.

In a press release from the office of the governor, Ritter states:

From my experience in law enforcement, I know how important it is for children to grow up in a stable environment. This law gives children in a one-parent family a chance to grow up in a two-parent home. We must do all we can to strengthen families and provide children with as stable an environment as possible. This law will give children a better chance to succeed.”

A report commissioned by the Canadian Government in 2003 (and recently made public) has found that having two moms is just as good (if not better) than having opposite-sex parents:

Children living with two mothers and children living with a mother and father have the same levels and qualities of social competence.”

Professor Paul Hastings of Concordia University reached the report’s conclusion after reviewing existing research relating to the impact on children of being raised in different family type. Be one of the first to see the results: download a copy of the report by clicking here (7MB).

A May 2nd Associated Press story (see this CBS news piece) reported that some Christian fundamentalist leaders are calling upon their members to consider adoption and foster care in response to criticism that their movement does not do enough to promote the welfare of children. 

We welcome the efforts of Focus on the Family and other Christian fundamentalists to direct their vast resources toward creating families rather than attacking them.

For far too long, these types of organizations have spent their energy baselessly and wastefully attacking families headed by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and parents. We have long maintained that - instead of focusing on our families - they should be combating the real issues faced by children in this country: abuse, neglect, violence, poverty, hunger and lack of access to health care and educational opportunity.

It is about time they understood that one of the best ways to help children is to focus time and energy on finding permanent loving homes for the half a million children languishing in our foster care system and the more than 100,000 children awaiting adoption. We can only hope that, as part of their efforts, they will also cease their attempts to block qualified LGBTQ parents from fostering and adopting children in need.

We will be watching these organizations to see how they follow through on this professed commitment to the welfare of families and children. We challenge them to step up and join us in tackling the challenging issues facing all American families, including those headed by LGBTQ parents.

Facts and figures often change when it comes to gay and lesbian parenting. Adoption and foster care are areas where this is particularly true. The Williams and Urban Institutes recently released an updated study on these issues, combining data from a number of reliable sources and taking a fresh look at things. Authored by Gary J. Gates , M.V. Lee Badgett, Jennifer Macomber and Kate Chambers, the study, “Adoption and Foster Care by Lesbian and Gay Parents in the United States,” is full of interesting findings, some of which are excerpted below.

(All statements are directly excerpted from study unless marked with an asterisk*. Otherwise, we’ve condensed some data for readability.)

Parenting and Adoption

• An estimated 27% of same-sex couples identified in Census 2000 have a child under 18 living in the home with them.
• More than half of gay men and 41% of lesbians express the desire to have a child. The percentage for gay men (52%) is higher than that of heterosexual and bisexual men (33% each).*
• An estimated 2,000,000 GLB people are interested in adopting.
• Approximately 65,000 adopted children are being raised by lesbian or gay parents, accounting for more than 4% of all adopted children in the United States.
• Gay and lesbian adoptive parents (uncoupled) represent nearly one in six single parents raising adopted children.*
• In four racial/ethnic categories, same-sex couples adopt children of color at a slightly higher rate than married heterosexual couples.* The racial/ethnic breakdown of children adopted by same-sex couples is 53% white, 14% African-American, 18% Hispanic/Latino(a), and 11% Asian/Pacific Islander. The breakdown for children of married heterosexual couples is 63% white, 11% African/American, 13% Hispanic/Latino(a), and 8% Asian/Pacific Islander.
• The top five states/districts in terms of the percentage of adopted children living with gay or lesbian parents are as follows: District of Columbia (28.6%), Massachusetts (16.4%), California (9.8%), New Mexico (9.0%), Alaska (8.6%).*
• On average, same-sex couples raising adopted children are older, more (formally) educated, and have more economic resources than other adoptive parents: The average household income for same-sex couples raising adopted children is $102,474, versus $81,900 for different-sex married couples, $43,746 for different-sex unmarried couples, and $36,312 for single parents. Same-sex couples hold graduate degrees at 34%, versus different-sex married couples at 13%, different-sex unmarried couples at 2% and single parents at 9%.

Parenting and Foster Care

• An estimated 10,300 foster children live with a lesbian or gay foster parent, accounting for nearly 3% of all of foster children in the Untied States and 6% of foster children living in non-kin family foster care placements.
• Almost 40% of all agencies and 83% of public agencies reported making at least one adoption placement with a lesbian or gay man. However, one-third of agencies would reject a gay or lesbian applicant, either because of the religious beliefs guiding the agency, a state law prohibiting placement with GLB parents, or a policy of placing children only with married couples. Additionally, agency heads are more likely to have negative views towards gays and lesbians adopting when they associate such adoptions with greater evaluation and support needs.*
• Among the more than a third of foster parents who are single, one in seven is a lesbian or gay parent.
• Single foster parents are more likely than others to be African-American (51%) and less likely to be white (31 percent). Foster children of single parents are more likely to be African-American (52%) and less likely to be white (26%) than children in other family types. Among foster families headed by couples, in contrast, approximately half of foster children are white and about 20% are African-American and an additional 20% are Latino(a).
• One recent study of Midwestern youth who are or were in foster care found that almost 7% identified as homosexual or bisexual.
• As of September 2005, 10,000 of the roughly 500,000 children in foster care (2%) had run away from their placement.
• The portion of foster children with a disability is highest among those in same-sex couple households (32%).
• Roughly 60% of all adoptions of children in foster care are by their foster parents.
• Prohibiting GLB people from fostering would cost an estimated $87 to $130 million dollars nationwide
• Prohibiting GLB people from fostering would result in the removal of 9,000 to 14,000 children from existing foster families.

At Family Pride, we believe in keeping our community up-to-date on the research that affects our families. Subscribe to the Family Pride blog to stay in the know, tell a friend, and spread the word!

In Florida, there is a downright ban on adoption for gay and lesbian individuals/couples thanks to the likes of Anita Bryant in the 1970s. Is Arkansas the next Florida? A bill barring gay and most straight unmarried couples from adopting or fostering children was passed by the Arkansas Senate (20-7) this week, and is on its way to a house committee.

The Arkansas Child Welfare Board instituted a similar ban in March 1999, but ultimately dropped the policy after loosing a court fight in 2004. The board claimed that children should be in traditional two-parent homes because they are more likely to thrive in that environment.

Really? Based on what research? Here’s what the American Psychological Association has to say:

Children with gay or lesbian parents do as well as children with heterosexual parents. Having a gay or lesbian parent doesn’t affect a child’s social adjustment, school success or sexual orientation, according to the researchers. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with good parenting.”

Perhaps the Arkansas Child Welfare Board and the state government should start focusing on what is in the best interest of children, and leave adoption decisions to the experts. And what is in the best interest of children? Ensuring that every child has a permanent, loving home and family.

The statistics show that there are children in need of homes and that gay and lesbian adults are just as qualified as heterosexual adults to be parents. It’s time to get rid of the barriers between children who need homes and the gay and lesbian adults that are able to provide them. It’s time to focus on what’s in the best interest of children.