Homosexual Adoption

7 Pages 1725 Words

“Everyone with the potential to successfully parent a child in foster care of adoption is entitled to fair and equal consideration regardless of sexual orientation or differing life style or physical appearance.” - North American Council on Adoptable Children (March 14, 1998)
Through adoption, foster care, and artificial insemination, the United States, in the past 10 years, has experienced an increase in the number of lesbians and gay men shaping families and households. Estimated research shows that the total number of children being raised by at least one homosexual parent in the United States today includes anywhere from six to fourteen million adolescents. States all throughout the country are working to save the best interests of children with gay parents. At least twenty-one states have allowed gay and lesbian parents the right of second-parent adoptions. This process grants children the right to benefit having two legal parents. It principally keeps adolescents under the supervision of a legal guardian, should one of their parents die or become incapacitated.
However, many parts of the country still do not allow homosexual men and women to become legal parents. Though adoption agencies may be full of children in desperate need of a home, many organizations do not believe that gays and lesbians are fit to parent children in the United States. Several states have used an individuals’ sexual orientation to deny them custody, adoption, visitation rights, and foster care for children. For example, in Florida and New Hampshire, laws have been accepted that ban lesbians and gay men from ever legally adopting children. In addition, Arkansas has just taken on a new policy that prohibits homosexuals and their families from allocating as foster parents.
Many people will openly admit to believing that homosexuals are not fit to be parents. The ignorant misconception of many is that, in order for a child to grow up to b...