There are basically two types of adoption agencies: Public agencies that are usually supported by public funding and are run by the state and Private agencies that are licensed by the state, but run privately (Reference 99). Regardless of the type of agency, the state has some say in their operations, and if the state has a ban of gay adoptions, then the agencies will have to abide. In 1977, Florida passed a civil rights ordinance making sexual orientation discrimination illegal in Dade County. In response to the ordinance’s creation, a campaign themed “Save Our Children was created and led by the singer of the hit “Paper Roses” and former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, Anita Bryant. The campaign, whose members were mainly Christians, used biblical principles as their foundation and driving force towards the fight against homosexuality. They were successfully able to link homosexuality to the recruitment of children and child molestation, and with enough supporters they were able to gather enough votes to overturn the ordinance. (REF to be) In the same year, Florida officially passed a law that prohibited any homosexual person from adopting a child, and In that law the term “homosexual” was clearly defined as any individual “known to engage in current, voluntary homosexual activity,” hence drawing a distinction between homosexual orientation which describes a person attracted to another person of the same sex and homosexual activity which is looked at as a sinful act against both body and God. (REF Erick). Consequently, Florida’s adoption law allows unmarried people to adopt, many of which had do so through the foster care system. Coincidentally, the adoption law does not prohibit homosexuals from playing the role as foste...
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...er turned or declared unconstitutional, all of which failed. However, on Wednesday September 22, 2010 the state of Florida overturned then ban on gay adoptions. The ruling was due to an appeal to a decision made in 2008 by the Department of Children and Families which asked the judges to deeply consider the evidence of what was considered to be risk factors among potential gay parents. Such risk “included more sexual activity by children of gay parents and more incidents of teasing and bullying suffered by children from gay households.” (refer 24) The appeals panel stated that the evidence gathered by the state did not support those claims and they were not valid from a scientific stand point. As a result, the law was stuck down, and with immediate effect gays and lesbians were now allowed to adopt children; and so a thirty three year old law was done away with.
The topic of child welfare is quite a broad one. There are numerous programs and policies that have been put in place to protect children. One of these policies is that of Adoption. Adoption was put into place to provide alternate care for children who cannot live with their biological families for various reasons. One of the more controversial issues surrounding adoption is that of Transracial adoption. Transracial Adoption is the joining of racially different parents and children (Silverman, 1993).
Florida state law currently bans lesbians and gay men from adopting children. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is attempting to get a case before the Supreme Court that could overturn the law. The ban on gay adoption has been in place since 1977, when the state legislature almost unanimously condoned restriction of the rights of its gay citizens. Legislation on the issue was sparked by Anita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign, which raged through Florida and even beyond spreading myths about homosexuality and linking homosexuality to pedophilia. At the time of its inception, Senator Curtis Peterson, one of its primary supporters, spoke to the law's true purpose: "The problem in Florida has been that homosexuals are surfacing to such an extent that they're beginning to aggravate the ordinary folks. We're trying to send them a message, telling them: ¡®We're really tired of you. We wish you'd go back into the closet" (1).
Interracial adoption is an unhealthy thing for adoptees and challenges them to learn about their native culture. Although, it may provide a better economic living and educational life, it deprives from cultural knowledge and maybe even ethical traits. “While adoption does materially improve the lives of many individual children, at the same time, adoption burdens adoptees for life with enormous psychological challenges and emotional hurdles that must be continually renegotiated at different stages of the life span.” (Raible)
Gay couples should be able to adopt because they will support their children financially. According to Allen Young in his article he states “just like straight people can bring children into the world who are eventually not in involved and unwanted and have no financial support” (Young, Allen p. 10). Gay couples happen to understand children more they too have been left alone and criticized by society. Children are left without parents and therefore other couples will try to adopt them. Just like any other human being who hard work to make money, gay couples should be allowed to adopt because they have their jobs, education and are affectionate that they provide to a child. Overall, if their biological parents did not want him/her, gay couples would be a good candidate that would actually provide that financial support they need and as well understand them.
Out of fifty states, only sixteen states allow gay adoptions while people in the other thirty-four states are either denied or sent to court to be determined by a complete stranger with no background information on the couple, whether or not they can take care of a child or not. According to “LGBT Adoption Statistics”, in 2012, 110,000 adopted children live with gay parents. Of the total amount of children in U.S. households, less than one percent lives with same-sex parents. If homosexuals were allowed to adopt, that one percent would rapidly increase. Sexual orientation of parents is not important when it comes to raising children; how the children are being raised and how the parents work together is what is truly important.
Not so long ago in United States family was defined as; a couple, a man and a woman with children. Times have changed. Today, people are moving away from this definition and now going for a modern description of what family refers to. From divorced parents, single par-ents, no children families, and gay parents they are all now included to this new definition. Ac-cording to the national census bureau “A family consists of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption residing in the same housing unit” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Like everything in life family is changing. The percentage of non-traditional family is growing more and more. As mention before homosexual families are big parts of this evolution. But many wonder; what is parenthood? How are homosexual families different from traditional families? And how different countries look at homosexual families?
All around the world there are thousands even millions of children who are waiting to be adopted. Many who are troubled children, and for that reason they are from foster home to foster home. The ideal American "family" is with a man and a woman. In the United States we have same-sex couples who are wanting to adopt, but they are being turned down due to their sexual preference. Same-sex relationships are much more stable than the average heterosexual relationship. Having a stable relationship ensures an emotionally steady home for a foster child. “Good parenting is not influenced by sexual orientation. Rather, it is influenced most profoundly by a parent’s ability to create a loving and nurturing home” (“LGBT Adoption”). Same-sex couples are more likely to adopt “hard to place” children with challenging behavior or disabilities.
Interracial Adoptions is when a family adopts a child of another race or culture. Traditionally adoption has been a relatively straight forward procedure. Children were mostly adopted by heterosexual, dual-parent households of the same race. But, America is changing. American's are becoming more tolerant of interracial adoptions, adoptions by single-parent families and adoptions by gay and lesbian couples. Adoptions is now more than a moral issue, it is now a ethnic issue also.
As issues that affect children enthuse intense interest and emotion it is unsurprising that transracial adoption; the joining together of racially or ethnically different parents and children in an adoptive family, is a subject that is fraught with controversy. Transracial adoption not only raises the question of the how much power should the state have to affect individual choices with respect to family life it also questions the level of state assistance given to families in trouble before removing parents from their parents. It also highlights issue of race within the context of the family with advocates seeing trans-racial adoption as a harbinger of hope, believing that if different races can love each other as a family then there is hope for the relationship between different races in society (Moe, 2007; Perry, 1996). Whereas, radical opponents claim that white society is racist and that transracial adoption is a hostile manifestation of white power and believe that ethnic minority communities should have the right to decide the fate of ethnic minority children (Hayes, 1995).
The ruling of Baehr vs. Lewin was a victory for gay rights activists, hope for other states searching for the same freedom, and disappointment for opponents of same-sex marriage. Yet this victory was short lived (until complete legalization in November 13, 2013) since the state appealed the lower court’s decis...
In recent years, same-sex relationships have become more encompassing in US society. State legislation is changing such as accepting gay marriages, enforcing anti-discrimination laws, and legal gay adoptions; the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is becoming public. Gay-headed families, like heterosexuals, are diverse and varying in different forms. Whether a created family is from previous heterosexual relationships, artificial insemination, or adoption, it deserves the same legal rights heterosexual families enjoy. Full adoption rights needs to be legalized in all states to provide a stable family life for children because sexual orientation does not determine parenting skills, children placed with homosexual parents have better well-being than those in foster care, and there are thousands of children waiting for good homes.
There are many reason why gay adoption is banned and why people object to it. Some people like Bill Maier, a child psychologist working with the conservative Focus on the Family, would say, “Children in foster care ‘are already scarred’ by abuse and neglect, we would want to do everything we could to place them in the optimal home environment” (Watson). Foster children would prefer a loving and nurturing home with a gay couple, rather than move around from foster parent to foster parent. Foster children are often victims of "foster care shuffle." For example, a child can live in twenty different homes before he or she turns eighteen. Anna Freud, a child psychologist, wrote “a child can handle almost anything better than instability”
Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted and integrated into today’s society, however, when it comes to homosexuals establishing families, a problem is posed. In most states, homosexuals can adopt children like any other married or single adult. There are many arguments to this controversial topic; some people believe that it should be legal nationally, while others would prefer that is was banned everywhere, or at least in their individual states. There are logical reasons to allow gays to adopt children, but for some, these reasons are not enough. The main issue really is, what is in the best interest of the child? This type of problem isn’t really one with causes, effects, and solutions, but one with pros and cons. Like any other adoption situation, a parent prove themselves to be responsible and capable enough to raise a child on their own, or with a spouse.
It's 2015, same sex marriage is legalized in the U.S., yet not all adoption agencies allow homosexual couples to adopt. It is only allowed by law to have homosexuals in a joint adoption in 11 states. Adoption has been around since the 1920’s and has been a way to help orphaned children become a family. Not everyone is willing to adopt, whether it is because they don’t want a child, or they have children of their own, and it is not in their budget to adopt another. In the end, there is still a large number of orphaned children hoping and waiting for a chance to be loved and welcomed by a family.
Someone is adopting everyday children all over the world. The children wait joyfully for couples to come and adopted them. So If a gay or a lesbian couple goes to adopted a child from a foster home they would have to go though more hassle then a straight couple would.