Several
states weigh ban on gay adoptions
Catholic Charities' move to stop adoption work focuses new attention on
same-sex couples who adopt children.
By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The
Christian Science Monitor
March 15, 2006
CHICAGO - In the two decades since it's been a licensed state adoption
agency, Catholic Charities of Boston has placed a tiny number of
children with gay parents: 13 of 720 adoptions. But when those
adoptions became public knowledge, the archdiocese's bishops -
following a Vatican directive - announced they had to stop.
The result was a showdown with lawmakers as the bishops tried to get an
exemption from the state's nondiscrimination clause and, ultimately,
decided to exit the adoption business entirely.
Catholic Charities' withdrawal is the most recent and the most dramatic
development on a topic that some see as the next wedge issue in the
culture wars. But it may prove less divisive than gay marriage, many
observers say.
In the wake of successful constitutional amendments or laws banning gay
marriage, several states are considering laws targeting gay adoption.
Catholic Charities in San Francisco is under similar pressure to halt
gay adoptions. Observers are watching to see if other faith-based
organizations follow suit.
"This is certainly a symptom of a divide within the [Catholic] church
today, that runs right through the issue of homosexuality," says
Timothy Muldoon, director of the nonpartisan Church in the 21st Century
Center at Boston College. The bishops and the Vatican "are concerned
with human rights, but they're also fundamentally concerned with
particularly creating a culture that supports the family."
The divide is hardly unique to the Catholic church, and conservatives,
gay rights groups, and child-welfare organizations are eyeing the
growing momentum behind efforts to ban or limit same-sex adoptions.
"Now that we've defined what family is, then the next step should be to
place children in that definition," says Greg Quinlan of the
conservative Pro-Family Network.
Currently, Florida, Mississippi, and Utah have laws that ban gay
adoption explicitly, although a few other states - including Nebraska,
Arkansas, Missouri, and New Hampshire - have de facto policies or laws
restricting gays from adopting or becoming foster parents.
Seven states introduced bills last year that would prevent gays or
lesbians from adopting, and a few states - Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri,
and Tennessee, among others - have indicated a willingness to introduce
constitutional amendments in future years. A bill in Arizona would
force the state to give priority to married couples adopting. Ohio is
considering a bill that would ban gays from being either adoptive or
foster parents.
But so far, gay adoption has proved less galvanizing than gay marriage.
"While it's still a divisive issue, it's not nearly as inflammatory as
gay marriage," says Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center
for the People and the Press, which is releasing a poll about gay
adoption later this week. "With gay marriage there's the whole question
of what marriage represents, in what's a religious ceremony for many
people. With adoption we have the issue of children who are uncared for
being taken care of. There are all kinds of crosscurrents that will be
there that aren't there for gay marriage."
The Human Rights Campaign ran a poll in states mulling the issue. In
Georgia, Ohio, and Missouri, 62 percent of respondents said they would
allow gays and lesbians to adopt in some circumstances; 33 percent said
they would never allow it.
"People know how many children are in foster care and that judges use a
criteria to screen any adoptive parent, gay or straight, and it's
really a children's rights issue," says Carrie Evans, the group's state
legislative director. "It's definitely not the slam dunk
[conservatives] experienced in '04 with marriage issues."
For example: Ohio's conservative Speaker of the House has refused to
back that state's proposed ban. And Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a
Republican who is courting conservatives for a possible presidential
run, said Monday that gay couples had a "legitimate interest" in
adoption. Still, he plans to file legislation allowing Catholic
Charities and other religious groups to exclude same-sex couples from
adoptions without violating state antidiscrimination laws.
The problem, say child-welfare advocates, is that such laws keep
children desperately in need of stability from getting any family at
all.
"Whatever one thinks of 'imperfect' parents, if you will, whether that
means gay or single or divorced, the operative question has to be
whether the child is better off in his eighth placement in nine years
of life, because that's the option," says Andrew Pertman, director of
the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and author of "Adoption
Nation." His organization will release research on gay adoptive parents
this month. "What our new research affirms is what all previous
research has shown, which is that there are no substantive reasons not
to place children with gay and lesbian parents."
"It's an apples and oranges argument," counters Bill Maier of the
conservative Focus on the Family. "The problem is the patchwork quilt
of bureaucracies and family courts reluctant to terminate parental
rights." The aim, he adds, is to place a child with married
heterosexual parents.
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