Eliminating Legal & Practice Barriers to Gay & Lesbian Adoption From Foster Care

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

EXPANDING RESOURCES FOR WAITING CHILDREN II: ELIMINATING LEGAL & PRACTICE BARRIERS TO GAY & LESBIAN ADOPTION FROM FOSTER CARE

http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2008_09_expand_resources.php

This Institute report released in September offers recommendations to increase the pool of prospective adoptive parents for children in foster care by changing state laws and agency practices so they become more welcoming of gay and lesbian applicants. This report builds on the Institute's 2006 Policy & Practice Perspective, "Expanding Resources for Waiting Children: Is Adoption by Gays and Lesbians Part of the Answer?"

The paper provides specific, research-based findings and recommendations relating to state laws and adoption agency policies. The recommendations include:

* State policies should explicitly recognize foster parenting by gays and lesbians, and laws that inhibit or prohibit adoption by non-heterosexual individuals and couples (such as in Florida and Utah) should be rescinded; applicants should be judged on their qualifications, not their sexual orientation.
* State laws should serve children's best interests by permitting joint and second-parent adoptions, and all states should give "full faith and credit" to adoptions legally completed in other states, without regard to the marital status or sexual orientation of the adoptive parents.
* Agencies should assess their policies and practices to ensure that they are welcoming - in recruitment, training and post-placement services - for all qualified family resources who want to provide homes for children in foster care, including gay/lesbian individuals and couples.

Please find much more at the link:
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/research/2008_09_expand_resources.php