Despite Some Protests, Gay Adoption Increasing

The large number of children awaiting adoption nationwide is making it easier for gays and lesbians to become parents, but those opposed to adoptions by homosexuals can still make the process difficult.

While no hard statistics are available, Paula Ettelbrick, family policy director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said adoption agencies’ attitudes toward homosexual parents have changed in the last five to 10 years.

“Probably the biggest reason for that is the tremendous need for homes,” Ettelbrick said. “Most agencies, either private or public, have realized that to cut an entire class of people out of the applicant pool creates a disaster in the system.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, there were 117,000 children of all races waiting to be adopted early in 1999, all of them under 16. For fiscal year 1998, only 36,000 children were adopted from the public foster care system.

Despite this need, many still object to the idea of a homosexual raising a child. In Florida, adoptions by gays have been banned, and Mississippi legislators are pushing a similar measure into law.

Over the last year, several states, including California and New Hampshire, have dropped legislation opposing adoptions by homosexuals. Some states sidestep the issue by prohibiting “unmarried couples” from adopting.

Indiana state Rep. Woody Burton, a Republican, has tried unsuccessfully to keep homosexuals from adopting children in Indiana, and says he’ll keep trying.

“There’s no question in my mind that the best solution for children is to have a mother and a father,” Burton said. “When you start getting into things like homosexual adoption, I’m just concerned that the kids are going to feel the impact of that.”

Some religious groups that view homosexuality as immoral share Burton’s sentiments.

Those attitudes have led some adoption agencies, and some people hoping to become adoptive parents, to keep quiet about sexual orientation.

“I think that agencies are willing to work with gay people if they don’t have to do it publicly,” said Angeline Acain, publisher of Gay Parent magazine. “It’s sort of a don’t ask, don’t tell kind of policy.”