Antidiscrimination Adoption Bill Introduced

Democratic U.S. congressman Pete Stark of California (pictured) introduced legislation last Thursday that would prohibit states and child welfare agencies from restricting adoption or foster care placements based on the sexual orientation or marital status of potential parents.

The Every Child Deserves a Family Act [H.R 3827] would cut off federal funding for any entity, such as a state program or an agency, that receives federal assistance for adoption or foster care placements but does not comply with the nondiscrimination policies set forth in the legislation.

Utah, Florida, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Mississippi all have laws that explicitly ban or restrict adoptions by same-sex parents, and a dozen or so more states are considering or have considered similar laws.

“The states have a right to their own laws, but they don't have a right to federal money,” Stark said. “Morality is hard to legislate, control of money is a lot easier.”

Stark added that the issue goes well beyond state laws and, in some cases, same-sex parent adoptions are denied or delayed by individual agencies, judges, or social workers.

“We have 25,000 kids who mature out of foster care every year without adoptive or permanent homes,” Stark said, “and the results are tragic -- they just don't do as well as kids who have good foster or adoptive care.” More than 129,000 children are also waiting for an adoptive home or permanent placement, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The bill, which has no cosponsors, is modeled after the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA), passed in 1994, which prohibits racial discrimination in foster care and adoption placements.

Stark admitted that the legislation could take a few years to gain traction but said he wanted to “get the issue out there and have it discussed.”

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Reader Comments

Back to top Post a Comment Report Abuse
Name: tim
Date posted: 10/21/2009 11:01:24 PM
Hometown: denton

Comment:
Right on sister!
Back to top Post a Comment Report Abuse
Name: diana
Date posted: 10/20/2009 11:44:35 PM
Hometown: atlanta

Comment:
Sorry! 100% is wrong! 12 years and counting thankyouverymuch!
Back to top Post a Comment Report Abuse
Name: Kevin W
Date posted: 10/20/2009 10:54:25 PM
Hometown: Baltimore

Comment:
100% of gay relationships end within 10 years. That is an absolute fact, that I guarantee was based on a fair and unbiased sampling.
Back to top Post a Comment Report Abuse
Name: R Schloemer
Date posted: 10/20/2009 7:50:02 PM
Hometown: Indiana

Comment:
Just to throw this out here, but if this is allowed, potential parents should be screened for stability. An unstable marriage or family situation can be devastating, particularly for the already unstable lives of adopted children. This is typically not an issue, but I dare you to look at any peer reviewed study on the duration of homosexual male relationships. They tend to be brief (one study documented 100% ending of relationships 10 years after they began w/ 1000 surveyed male couples) and are (depending on who you talk to) around 3x more likely to be abusive. As a kid of divorced parents, I know it can be hard to get through a breakup. But going through being adopted by gay parents and then having one or both almost guaranteed to cheat or leave the other.

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