News
2006-09-08
Arkansas likely
to allow gay foster parents
The head of an
Arkansas state panel that had approved a policy
barring gay people from serving as foster parents says
The head of an
Arkansas state panel that had approved a policy
barring gay people from serving as foster parents says
it is unlikely the state will appeal court
decisions rejecting the ban. The Child Welfare Agency
Licensing Review Board, meeting at Mount Magazine
State Park in Paris, intended a formal vote Thursday.
"I'd just like to let the legislature work on
this one," board chairman James Balcom said.
A Pulaski County judge and the state supreme
court each ruled that the board did not have the
authority to impose the ban. A state health and human
services department lawyer said the state has until
September 29 to file papers with the U.S. Supreme
Court that it intends to keep fighting.
Four people sued after the board adopted the
policy in 1999, and the board dropped the policy after
losing a court fight in 2004. The four who
successfully sued the board did not apply to serve as foster
parents, a state spokeswoman said after the state
supreme court affirmed the ban in June.
Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has said he
hoped legislators would consider a ban but that he was
not inclined to call a special legislative session to
address the issue. He leaves office in January before the
next term of the legislature.
The board had instituted the ban in March 1999,
saying children should be in traditional two-parent
homes because they are more likely to thrive in that
environment. (AP)
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