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WILLIAMS INSTITUTE, URBAN INSTITUTE RELEASE MAJOR STUDY ON ADOPTION & FOSTER CARE BY LESBIANS & GAY MEN LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL COUPLES AND INDIVIDUALS RAISING CHILDREN IN LARGE NUMBERS
Press Release March 27, 2007
Media Contacts: WASHINGTON, D.C.— The Williams Institute and the Urban Institute today released a major study on adoption and foster care by lesbian and gay parents. The study uses census data and other government surveys to estimate for the first time the number of adopted and fostered children living with lesbian and gay parents in the United States and to provide a demographic portrait of these families. The research team also estimates the economic and social costs of banning such adoptions and foster care, a prospect under debate in legislatures and courts in several states. Allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual (GLB) individuals and couples to adopt or provide a foster home to children has been the subject of controversy. Currently, state policies regarding GLB adoption and fostering vary. Some have outright bans: Florida forbids “homosexuals” from adopting; Mississippi bans “same-gender” couples, and Utah bans all unmarried couples. Other states, including California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington DC, have policies which prohibit sexual orientation from being used as a basis to prevent a prospective applicant from being a adoptive or foster parent. GLB people in the remaining states may face discrimination when applying to be adoptive or foster parents. GLB people in the United States are already raising children in significant numbers. More than one in three lesbians has given birth, and one in six gay men have fathered a child. The study estimates that 65,500 adopted children and currently living with a lesbian or gay parent, amounting to four percent of all adopted children in the United States. Additionally, the study finds that 14,100 foster children are living with lesbian or gay parents. “Our study documents that a significant number of GLB individuals and couples are raising adopted and fostered children and two million GLB people would consider adopting a child,” said Gary J. Gates, Senior Research Fellow at the Williams Institute, “GLB people appear to be an under-utilized resource for child welfare agencies desperately in need of families willing to foster and perhaps adopt children who have had a rough start in life,” Gates continued. “Research documents that children raised by lesbian and gay parents do just fine,” said Gates. “Our study documents that lesbian and gay couples who adopt are older, more educated, and have greater economic resources to support their children than do other adoptive families” Gates concluded. Currently, several states are considering laws and policies that would prevent GLB people from adopting and fostering. According to the Williams Institute/Urban Institute study, such policy changes could bring additional and significant instability in the lives of youth in the foster care system. An estimated 9,300 to 14,000 children currently placed with existing GLB foster parents could be removed from those families. As a result, children in the foster care system who are available for adoption may remain there longer or might never be adopted at all. In particular, GLB youth are likely to lose out since GLB people might be more willing to provide placements for GLB youth. “Instability is not good for children,” said Jennifer Macomber. “Studies show that the number of moves between placements is associated with multiple harmful outcomes for children, including academic, mental health, and behavioral problems. Children with fewer placements show better school achievement, less criminal activity, more social support, increased life satisfaction, greater housing stability, better self-support, and better caring for their own children.” Additionally, the economic cost of banning GLB people from adopting and fostering could be significant. “Our research indicates that a national ban on GLB foster case could cost from $87 to $130 million,” said M.V. Lee Badgett, Research Director at the Williams Institute. “States would spend more on foster care as children who are removed from family settings would be placed in group or institutional care, at greater cost. States will also have to spend more money to recruit and train new foster parents.” Gary Gates, Jennifer Macomber, and Lee Badgett are available to speak with the press. In addition, copies of the report are available. For details, please contact Cathy Renna or Syd Peterson at: cathy@rennacommunications.com or syd@rennacommunications.com. The Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law & Public Policy advances law and public policy through rigorous, independent research and scholarship, and disseminates its work through a variety of education programs and media to judges, legislators, lawyers, other policy makers and the public. For more information, please see: http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute To promote sound social policy and public debate on national priorities, the Urban Institute gathers and analyzes data, conducts policy research, evaluates programs and services, and educates Americans on critical issues and trends. For more information, please see: http://www.urban.org/
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