Florida Gov. Charlie Crist gives different answers on gay adoption
As a part of his statewide tour for “Explore Adoption Day,” Crist spoke to a crowded courtroom at the Duval County Courthouse about the increase in adoptions throughout the state.
Crist and other adoption advocates talked about the need for even more adoption, especially for older children who have a difficult time making it out of the system.
When he was running for governor in 2006, Crist told The St. Petersburg Times, “My position is the traditional family is the best to adopt.” He reaffirmed that statement on Wednesday in Jacksonville.
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Gay and thinking about adopting?
If you are gay or lesbian and thinking about adopting in California, let this serve as a basic review on adoption in California. This is not an exhaustive discussion, but a beginner’s look at what one might consider when thinking about adopting a child.
In addition to single GLBT adoptions, California permits joint and second-parent adoptions.
There are three types of adoption available in California:
- Independent/Open - This type of adoption is generally done without an adoption agency, rather with a lawyer and/or a physician to help locate a birth mother. The cost for an independent adoption varies, but typically runs from 10 to 20 thousand dollars.
- Foster - This type of adoption process begins by the adoptive parent or parents becoming licensed as foster parents first, then getting approved by the agency as prospective adoptive parents. The foster system approach is the most affordable, usually consisting of minimal costs for licensing, home study and adoption fees.
- International - When a U.S. family adopts a child from a foreign country, it is known as an “international” adoption. Prospective parents usually work with a private agency licensed for intercountry adoption. Fees for an international adoption typically range from 10 to 25 thousand dollars.
If you are considering adoption, below are some questions to consider before taking the next steps. If you and your partner are exploring the idea of adoption together, feel free to use them as discussion starters.
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Court: Fla. must recognize states’ gay adoptions
Florida must recognize gay couples’ adoptions that were granted in other states even though its laws bar granting such adoptions, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
A trial court erred when it wouldn’t recognize a former lesbian couple’s adoptions that had been completed when the women lived in Washington state, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously. Florida is the only state that prohibits all gays from adopting, but the judges said the U.S. Constitution requires it to give “full faith and credit” to the actions of other states.
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Harkin: Gay couples can be good parents
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin said today he prefers children to be adopted into heterosexual marriages, if all other factors are equal, but that some gay couples are better parents.Harkin’s mixed feelings disappointed some longtime supporters in Iowa’s gay community and raised the question of how other elected officials who support the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling allowing gay marriage feel about same-sex adoptions.
“I’m just saying that, if everything was equal, I guess my proclivity would be to have a heterosexual couple, Harkin said during a conference call with reporters.Harkin had previously said he preferred adoptions by heterosexual couples. He was asked today if he still felt that way, in light of the ruling allowing same-sex marriage.He said heterosexual couples do not always make better parents than same-sex couples.“I don’t want to practice armchair psychology here or anything like that. I guess it’s my own feelings on that,” Harkin said. “But I’m saying there may be times when that is not the best — because I’ve known gay couples who have raised children, and they’ve done great in doing that, and the children did not grow up to necessarily be gay or lesbian.” See Harkin: Gay couples can be good parents
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Denmark OKs adoptions by gay couples
(Copenhagen) Denmark’s Parliament has passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. The bill puts gay and lesbian couples on the same footing as opposite-sex couples.
The measure was passed on a 62-53 vote with 64 absentees.
Gay couples had been fighting for a decade to have the law passed. They found …
Tags: Absentees, Adoptions, Copenhagen Denmark, Decade, Denmark Copenhagen, Footing, Gay And Lesbian, Gay And Lesbian Couples, Gay Copenhagen, Gay Couples, Gay Denmark, Gay Lesbian, Legislation, Opposite Sex, Parliament, Same Sex Couples, Sex Children, VoteGay parents row splits French government Indopia
A French bill granting rights to stepparents sparked a row in government today when a minister described it as an under-handed way of recognising gay parents and vowed to fight the measure.
Housing Minister Christine Boutin, a staunch Catholic and vocal opponent of gay rights in France, said the proposed legislation contained provisions on homosexual couples that were surreptitiously included.
“I will not accept that we recognise homosexual parenting and adoptions by homosexual couples in an under-handed way,”said Boutin in a statement.
“ Recognising the status of stepparents will lead to the de facto recognition of homosexual parenting and adoptions by homosexual couples,”she said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy last month announced the new legislation giving stepparents rights over the children they raise, saying it would bring the law in step with the modern reality of reconstituted families. See Gay parents row splits French government Indopia
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Bill would ban adoptions by unwed couples
The state had an infant, 2 weeks old, 10 weeks premature, HIV positive and abandoned at a hospital. The child wasn’t expected to live long but needed 24-hour care and parental nurturing.
Would they take the baby, asked the social worker who had evaluated and approved them for foster care.
“That was a Friday. We garage-saled all weekend and picked him up that Monday,” Morgan said. The couple later adopted the boy.
“Now we have this beautiful, healthy, happy, totally normal 18-year-old son. You tell me — what’s wrong with that?”
Morgan said he and his partner were the first openly gay couple to adopt in Tennessee.
If bills introduced in the Tennessee House and Senate this session succeed in the state’s new, Republican-dominated legislature, unmarried couples — gay and straight — could be barred from adopting.
People on both sides of the issue say their primary concern is the welfare of children. But that’s where the agreement ends about who should and should not be able to adopt in Tennessee.
The bills’ advocates say that Tennessee law was never intended to allow unmarried couples to adopt but that the state attorney general and Department of Children’s Services interpreted it incorrectly.
It’s clear children belong in “traditional” families, they say.
But those who oppose the bills say they would leave more children lingering in a state system that has made strides since a court ordered Tennessee to more swiftly connect eligible children with adoptive families.
“Remember that children in foster care don’t typically have a line of people going around the block waiting to adopt them,” said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.
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Tennessee seeks to ban gay adoptions
For the second year in a row, a bill has been filed in the Tennessee Senate that bans adoptions by gay and unmarried straight couples.
Senator Paul Stanley (R-Memphis) filed the bill today (Thursday, Jan. 29) that “prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor.” See Tennessee seeks to ban gay adoptions
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Bill would repeal Fla. anti-gay adoption law
(Tallahassee, Florida) A Florida state senator has introduced legislation to repeal the state ban on adoptions by gays and lesbians.
Sen. Nan Rich (D) filed two bills - one would allow gays to adopt, the other would leave it to judges to determine where to place children where both parents are …
Tags: Adoption Law, Adoptions, Anti Gay, Florida State Senator, Gay Adoption, Gay Florida, Gays And Lesbians, Legislation, Nan, Parents, State Ban, Tallahassee FloridaFlorida AG prepares appeal in gay adoption case
(Tallahassee, Florida) The Florida Attorney General’s office is preparing to appeal a ruling by a Miami judge striking down the state ban on adoptions by gays and lesbians.
Florida Assistant Attorney General Valerie Martin said the appeal would be filed on behalf of the state Department of Children & …
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