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.
More of Gay and thinking about adopting?
Examiner.com
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/gay-and-think…
Council halts plans to put boy with gay foster parents
A council has halted plans to place a ten-year-old Catholic boy in the care of homosexual foster parents against the wishes of his mother.
The case was highlighted last month by The Mail on Sunday, the day before the boy was due to arrive at his new home, a hotel in Brighton run by a middle-aged male couple.
Brighton and Hove Council has now told the mother it is reviewing its decision after her lawyer argued it was obliged to try to place the boy with foster parents of the same faith.
See Council halts plans to put boy with gay foster parents
Daily Mail
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/07/council-halts…
Lambda Legal Applauds West Virginia Court Order Restoring Custody of Foster Child to Lesbian Mothers
“The West Virginia high court has done the right thing in ruling in the best interests of this child. We applaud them for rejecting the prejudice that would have removed her from the only home she ever knew,” said Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta. “Children in West Virginia need parents to love and care for them and that’s what the state should want, too.”
Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the court on February 19, 2009, on behalf of Foster Children Alumni Association, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) of the Eastern Panhandle, COLAGE (Children of Lesbian and Gays Everywhere), and Fairness West Virginia to urge the reversal of a trial court order removing the then year-old girl from the home of Kathryn Kutil and Cheryl Hess. The removal was ordered after the couple indicated that they wished to adopt the child. The trial judge accepted the view of the guardian ad litem that the Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) should only pursue an adoption placement for the child in a “traditional family,” consisting of both a mother and a father. The GAL also sought a statewide injunction barring foster children from being placed in gay homes. Friday’s ruling reverses this lower court finding, allows the child to remain with her foster parents, and permits the possibility that this home where the child has thrived eventually will be the adoption placement for the child.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/lambda-legal-…
Group discloses adoption ban petition signers online in Arkansas
LITTLE ROCK — A Massachusetts gay rights group Tuesday posted on the Internet the names and addresses of more than 83,000 Arkansans who signed petitions last year to put a gay adoption ban on the state ballot, action the leader of the ballot initiative condemned as “pure intimidation.”
KnowThyNeighbor.org said it intended to make petition signers accountable for their support of the measure that prohibits unmarried couples who live together from adopting children or serving as foster parents in the state.
Though the new law affects all unmarried cohabiting couples, the sponsoring organization made no secret the measure targeted gays. It received 57 percent of the vote in the November general election.
“(They) need to stand behind their signatures and be responsible for this dehumanizing attack on the gay community,” KnowThyNeighbor.org’s director, Tom Lang, said in a release. “It’s disgraceful that they have chosen to exercise their prejudice at the expense of children who are now being denied access to loving adoptive and foster parents. Such activity must be challenged and cannot be allowed to pass under the cover of darkness.”
The group accessed the information from the Arkansas secretary of state’s office. Petition lists are public information under state law, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said.
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/group-disclos…
Florida Supreme Court takes up gay adoption advocacy case
(Tallahassee, Florida) The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments as to whether a committee of the Florida Bar Association can present arguments challenging the state’s ban on gays adopting children.
Florida law allows gays to serve as foster parents but not adopt. The law is considered the most repressive of its …
Tags: Adoption Advocacy, Challenging The State, Court Case, Florida Adoption, Florida Bar Association, Florida Gay, Florida Law, Florida Supreme Court, Foster Parents, Gay Adoption, Gay Florida, Gays Adopting Children, Oral Arguments, Tallahassee FloridaSuit to proceed against Arkansas adoption ban
(Little Rock, Arkansas) An Arkansas judge ruled that a lawsuit challenging a law banning unmarried couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents can move forward.
In a hearing Tuesday on the state application to dismiss the lawsuit, Arkansas Deputy Attorney General Justin Allen argued that no one has a basic right …
Tags: Arkansas Adoption, Deputy Attorney General, Foster Parents, Little Rock Arkansas, State Application, Unmarried CouplesKentucky Panel backs bill to bar adoption by unmarried couples
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Senate Judiciary Committee gave unanimous approval this afternoon to a bill that would ban unmarried couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents in Kentucky. See Panel backs bill to bar adoption by unmarried couples Louisville Courier-Journal
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/kentucky-pane…
RC Bishop hits out at adoption agency over gay couples rule
A Catholic bishop is attempting to disown an adoption agency because it is to comply with new laws that require it to consider gay couples as potential foster parents. Catholic Caring Services, one of 11 Catholic adoption agencies in Britain, has signalled that it will abide by the Sexual Orientation Regulations that come into force on 1 January 2009, which prohibit fostering agencies from discriminating against lesbian and homosexual couples.
But Patrick O’Donoghue, the bishop of Lancaster, said the decision marked an “irretrievable breakdown” between the diocese and the agency and accused it of “capitulation” with “no attempt at resistance”. In a pastoral letter issued to clergy and lay people, the bishop said the charity was no longer Catholic and could not operate in the name of the Lancaster diocese: “All churches, parishes, schools and other Catholic organisations or societies are to have no formal associations with Catholic Caring Services and the new charity is no longer entitled to have access to diocesan collections.”The agency occupies four properties in Preston and the terms of their leases are to be reviewed according to the bishop’s letter. The bishop also suggested the agency might be asked to repay legacies and bequests left by Catholics.
Of Britain’s 11 Catholic adoption agencies, five are complying with the new regulations and one is closing its adoption service. The remaining five have yet to reveal their decision although two charities that were refused permission by the Charity Commission to raise objections to the new law have appealed to the Charity Tribunal.
The agencies find new homes for hundreds of children a year but a refusal to comply with the new laws would mean legal action or loss of funding from local authorities. However, the agencies believe accepting the new legislation involves violating church teaching.
See Bishop hits out at adoption agency over gay couples rule
The Observer, UK
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/rc-bishop-hit…
Gay foster parents in short supply
Agency, aiming to place LGBT foster kids with understanding caregivers, seeks more lesbians.
Tags: Caregivers, Foster Kids, Foster Parents, Gay Parents, Lesbians, Supply AgencyGay foster parents in short supply
Agency, aiming to place LGBT foster kids with understanding caregivers, seeks more lesbians.
Tags: Caregivers, Foster Kids, Foster Parents, Gay Parents, Lesbians, Supply Agency
