Arkansas' same sex adoption ban will take effect in a matter of days. This comes just weeks after Florida lifts their ban. How do you feel about same sex adoption?
Arkansas' law means all gay couples will not be allowed to adopt or foster as of January 1. While heterosexual unmarried couples are also forbidden, some say the law is only to ensure that homosexuals aren't given the right. Susan Hoffpauir, President of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers agrees that adding such restrictions will only cut down on the amount of quality homes available.
While it began to seem like some were warming up to the idea of same sex parenting -- a judge in Florida last month struck down an old law prohibiting same sex couples to adopt -- Utah and North Dakota also disqualify gay couples from being foster parents or adopting.
For a complete rundown of adoption laws, state by state, click here.
filed under: family
Email20 comments so far | Post a comment now >>
This makes no sense to me.The US already has so many children with no home to go to. Everyone who is thourghly checked out should be able to Foster or adopt a child. The weirdo’s are the ones who usually end up in the prisons, and when their sentence is done they are let out to do it again. Or women who visit sex offenders, then wonder why their children are molested or worse.
- Debra A Anderson
I don’t get what people have a problem with. It’s not like gay couples get to breeze past the screening process. As long as anyone, gay or straight, is checked out to make sure they’d be responsible and good parents, then let them raise the kids! Better than the kids suffering through the system. Evidence shows gay families raise well-adjusted, healthy, mentally sound, moral, all around fantastic kids. :) They’re just as good as the kids raised by straight families. So let the legal system use common sense. Put the kids in loving families.
- Heather
I say nay- Its an unpopular choice- one of the biggest problems with being raised by a single parent is that you dont have a chance to have a role model for the gender of parent that is missing. Basically, if you have two mommies and are, say a girl, boys are going to be even more of a mystery to you. A boy will have a hard time relating to other boys, and its good for them to have a good example for their future relationships. By allowing gay couples to adopt; you are not giving the child the option to have the best that they can get.
- CMP
As someone who worked for a adoption agency, I still remember the calls that we would get from Gay couples who wanted to adopt but couldn’t in their home state. I think that its really sad that children who need loving homes, would be blocked from a potential loving, nuturing home because of someone’s else bias.
- Margaret
CMP, So its better for a child to languish in the system and then get booted out at 18 because they supposedly wont have role models? What about them participating Boys and Girls club? Girls Inc.? Other mentoring programs? It seems to me that your thoughts are less about the children and more about what the parents are doing.
- Margaret
Many, many gay couples have an an opposite sex role model in their lives. Whether it be an uncle, friend, neighbor, etc — a role model doesn’t have to provide sperm or an egg. Open your mind.
- JBL
This boils down to the old “traditional family values” slogan, thrust upon us by conservative Christian pundits. My question to them is, What tradition? Whose family and whose values? The answer is, of course, theirs. Not mine. Families are no longer defined by a heterosexual 2 parent home with 2.5 kids. There are just as many healthy happy single parent homes due to divorce and unwed motherhood or the death of a spouse, as there are the traditional Beaver Cleaver 2 parent heterosexual families. My question to those who oppose gay couples, or even gay singles adopting is, would you allow a gay person or couple to adopt a dog or cat? And if so, does that not imply that you value the life of a pet more than the life of a human child? While I agree, to some extent, that a 2 parent house (regardless of gender or orientation of the parent) is preferable to a single parent house, I do not believe the relationship between the parents is relevant to their ability to raise a stable, healthy and happy child. You would no more discuss the heterosexual aspects of a marriage to a young child then you would a homosexual marriage aspects, and if you do not discuss all aspects of all relationships between all kinds of people, hetero, homosexual, inter-racial, interfaith, or what have you, then you run the risk of leaving that child in a world of ignorance and hate that is being les and less tolerated in the modern world.
- RyanG
Who are the dreadful people that come up with such a ban? Denying a child a loving home(with hetero- or homosexual parents) is, in my opinion, an atrocious act. I just cannot understand such close-minded individuals.
- Anonymous
grow up people, no one else is willing to adopt the hiv babies and raise them as their own.
- paul
@ CMP-I am a single parent and if I had a partner of any sex, it would make the load that much easier. (mind you, a partner who had the same vision that I have as I have had a partner, one of opposing views and it made it all the much harder) So I say yeh(gay), on this one. There are too many American kids out there without a home and a home, good, bad (not abusive but maybe a lot of yelling) single parent, two same sex parents or hetero parents… are a million times better then having none.
- cara
I am an adoptive parent and it is not easy. So for anyone who has an open heart to bring a child into their home and love them like their own flesh and blood, never mind go through the rigorous home study process, should be invited… in fact, embraced… by those who want the best for the children. Shame on them for being so closed minded. They’re most likely robbing many children of a beautiful and loving future.
- JMM
No, they should not be allowed to adopt. And the people seem to be “speaking” about how they feel about it. A 200 year old adoption institution was recently shut down by one state because they would not give children to gay couples. They wanted the best for the children they placed and they were forced out. How will that help children get adopted? They should have been allowed to stay open and those gay couples who got the state to close it down should have gone somewhere else. They were not thinking of these children when they “got their way”. They were only thinging of themselves, as usual.
- momoffour
“they wanted the best for the children” “they wouldn’t give children to gay couples” . .. these two sentences are not equal. Either they wanted to give the children to the best possible homes, OR they were discriminating against gay couples who were legitimate. (If they were discriminating against unfit gay couples, I can’t imagine any court siding with unfit parents) There are probably unfit gay couples as well as straight — I don’t think all should be allowed to adopt, but any that pass screening - then yes. If you’re going to claim that gays brought down the adoption agency, could you please provide some facts to verify with? Like the name of the place, the state it was shut down in, how exactly they were shut down. What was the specific reason. ( was it based on discrimination? bad practices? They ran out of money?) .. your claim is very vague. I’d prefer specifics please. :)
- Anonymous
What is amazing to me, these childrn came from a heterosexual couple..they are parentless because of a heterosexual couples non-parenting..Why in the world do narrow minded people set themselves up as a judge as what is “better” for children. They seem to believe a series of foster homes constitutes a better raising , then a loving home provided from any couple,or single person, willing to undergo the harsh process to adopt! Kids do not need a man or a woman to love them ,,,they need an adult! Good adults do good things, provide love, structure, protection.It is not a matter of age, sexual preference,marriage,religious preference. It is totally a matter of loving ,constant care!!!!!
- shon
There are too many children of all ages who need good loving homes and not just babies but older kids and teens too. Eliminating people who want to raise those children based on their sexuality is criminal. In regard to that 200 yr old adoption agency that was shut down I have to say that that is sad… sad that they refused to realize that ALL PEOPLE ARE EQUAL regardless of race, religion, sex, AND sexual preference.
- ak mom
A loving family is a loving family, regardless of the makeup, be it a child who is cared for by a grandparent, or two mommies or two daddies or a mommy and a daddy. If you have love, stability and care to share, then everyone benefits!
- Barb
the U.S. government in any state,couny,town etc, are the most close minded group of people on the planet
- renee
I’m one AR person who voted against this law. A good loving home is the priority, not the sexual preferences of the parents.
- Sandy
I believe that as long as the couple is screened, sexual orientation should not matter. I have a lesbian couple that lives on my block and I would have to say they are probably the most affectionate, caring, and responsible parents on the block. Sometimes I feel like half of the straight couples should not be allowed children. As for the person who commented that the kids will be missing out on the opposite gender that is ignorant because there are tons of kids from single parent homes and only have the one gender to relate to. I’m sure there will be plenty of other places for those kids to relate to the opposite gender. We need to keep as many children out of the system as possible and give as many as possible good loving homes!!
- Tracie
Very nice site!
- John831
| ||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
advertisement
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
 Win a $5000 Hershey's Diamond Pendant!
Enter Here |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
