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Adoption News - 2 -
Mainstream
Children’s Groups
‘Unequivocally’ Urge Appeals
Court to Overturn Florida Gay Adoption Ban
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Mainstream
Children’s Groups
‘Unequivocally’ Urge Appeals
Court to Overturn Florida Gay Adoption Ban
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE Wednesday, February 20, 2002 ATLANTA.
Some of
the nation’s largest, oldest and most respected
children’s groups today told a federal appeals court
that Florida’s law banning gay adoption hurts kids, in
a brief filed in support of the American Civil Liberties
Union’s lawsuit challenging the adoption ban.
Florida’s
law - by far the toughest adoption ban in the nation -
“not only has no child welfare basis whatsoever, but
it also affirmatively hurts children awaiting adoption
by depriving them of the opportunity to be adopted by
lesbians and gay men who are willing to provide them
with loving families,” the groups said in legal papers
filed today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th
Circuit, in Atlanta.
“Today,
the nation’s most respected voices for children have
made it clear that this law is not helping anyone,”
said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU Lesbian & Gay
Rights Project. “In fact, it’s hurting thousands of
people - most urgently the 3,400 kids in foster care in
Florida who could be adopted right now if qualified
parents came forward.”
The brief
was filed by the Child Welfare League of America, an
80-year-old organization with 1,000 public and private
member agencies serving more than 3 million kids and
their families yearly, along with other groups. Last
week, the ACLU filed its written arguments in the
appeal, charging that the Florida law unconstitutionally
discriminates against lesbians and gay men and deprives
children statewide of permanent homes with loving
parents. In today’s 27-page brief, the children’s
groups said, “No child welfare basis exists for
categorically excluding lesbians and gay men from
adopting children. Social science research unanimously
demonstrates that lesbians and gay men can be and are
good parents, and being raised by lesbian or gay parents
is not harmful to children.”
The
children’s groups note that by reducing the pool of
qualified adoptive parents, the state of Florida is
causing some children to be left with no parents at all.
Case-by-case determinations - factoring in each child’s
individual needs and whether each prospective parent can
meet them - is the widely accepted standard for adoptive
placement, the groups explain. Today’s action by the
children’s groups comes just two weeks after the
American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement
supporting “second-parent” adoption by same-sex
partners of lesbian and gay parents.
In the
Florida case, the ACLU represents three families in a
federal lawsuit challenging the gay adoption ban. Steven
Lofton and his partner Roger Croteau are raising five
children, including three Florida foster children.
Although the kids -- ages 14, 10 and 14 -- have never
known another family, they cannot be adopted by Lofton
or Croteau because of Florida’s law. Doug Houghton has
raised a 10-year-old boy for six years but also cannot
adopt him because of Florida’s law. When a lower court
dismissed the lawsuit last year, the judge said that
Houghton and the boy are just as close as biological
parents and their children. Wayne Smith and Dan Skahen
provide foster care to various children as needed, but
cannot adopt any children because of Florida’s law.
The ban on
gay adoption was passed by the state legislature in
1977, in the midst of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade.
The bill’s sponsor in the State Senate told a local
newspaper at the time that the new law was intended to
send this message to lesbians and gay men: “We are
really tired of you. We wish you’d go back in the
closet.”
In sworn
depositions for the case, the state’s leading official
overseeing adoption policy was asked, “Do you know of
any child welfare reason at all for excluding gay people
from adopting children?” The official, Carol
Hutchison, answered, “No.” She was then asked if she
believes children's best interests would be served if
lesbians and gay men were allowed to adopt. “As I
previously stated, I think it's contraindicated to rule
out such a large population of people who quite possibly
could meet the needs [of] awaiting children,” she
said.
The
43-page brief appealing the case, which was filed last
week, is online at:
http://www.aclu.org/court/lofton.pdf
A news
release about the filing of the ACLU's appeals court
challenge is online at
http://www.aclu.org/news/2002/n021402a.html
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