Dear Family Pride Members and Supporters:

For months we have been talking to you about the assault being waged from religious and political extremists on our ability to create and protect our families. Last week in Ohio, the first of these attacks was launched. A bill was filed in the Ohio House of Representatives that would ban LGBT people from being able to foster & adopt and would prohibit any person (gay or straight) living with an LGBT person to foster or adopt. At Family Pride, we are working tirelessly to educate Americans about why these bills are wrong and misguided. We hope you will be part of our education network, telling all the people you interact with in your lives about these misguided initiatives. Our opponents claim they are acting in the best interest of the child – here’s why they are wrong:

• Over 600,000 children are currently in foster care
• Over 120,000 of these children are legally available for adoption
• On average, a child in foster care will wait two years to be adopted
• 60 percent of adoptable foster care children are over the age of six
• 60 percent of the adoptable children in foster care are black or Hispanic
• Over 25 years of scientifically valid research shows that LGBT parents are just as capable as heterosexual parents
• Polling shows that people overwhelmingly believe that foster and adoption placements are best made on a case by case basis by qualified medical and legal authorities
• There is no child welfare basis for banning gay parenting. Professional organizations that advocate for the health and welfare of children have expressed official support for same-sex adoption and fostering, including:

• American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

• American Academy of Family Physicians

• American Academy of Pediatrics

• American Bar Association

• American Medical Association

• American Psychiatric Association

• American Psychoanalytic Association  

• American Psychological Association  

• Child Welfare League of America

• National Association of Social Workers

• North American Council on Adoptable Children

Today a story ran on the front page of USA Today talking about the growing trend to use foster/adoption bans as political weapons. As part of that story, USA Today is polling its readers to see how they feel about lesbian and gay parents adopting. Let’s send a clear message that we believe it is wrong to have discriminatory adoption and foster care placement practices written into state law and constitutions.

Please take a minute right now to fill out the survey at http://www.usatoday.com/news/quickquestion/2006/february/popup1661.htm.

And please share this story and the link with as many people as possible. It will only take five minutes of your time, but it will help tell thousands of people that our families are real and valid.

Thanks for all you do for our families. 

Jennifer Chrisler

Executive Director