About a Legalization of Gay Adoption

Adoption has been around for many years, but only recently has the question of gay adoption risen. There are many orphans in the world, but not enough families or parents to take them in. There aren't that many families who can and will adopt children, whether it's because they can't support them, they have children of their own, or they just don't want children. The end result is still an overabundance of orphaned children in need of a loving family. There is a solution to this problem. Gay adoption. There is a rising amount of open homosexual couples everywhere and most of them would love to have kids, but it's still illegal for homosexual couples to adopt children in some areas of the U.S., let alone the world. All across our country, and in other countries, there are children awaiting adoption and eager parents who would like to welcome those children into their homes, but are banned from doing so. These parents have done nothing wrong and possess the same skills and resources as other potential parents, and yet they are not allowed to give a child everything he or she needs, love, protection, and security. So why are these potential parents banned from adopting? Discrimination and prejudices are the main cause of this unconstitutional act. Adoption to gay couples should be legalized everywhere because anyone who is able to meet the requirements of being a loving parent deserves to become a parent, despite their sexual preferences and many kids would be grateful to have two loving parents.

There are a many different reasons why gay adoption is banned and many people who object to it. While some states are becoming more open minded, other states remain close minded and remain strict in its stand against gay adoption, so in those states, it's still illegal for gay couples to adopt children. Some would say that it could cause psychological problems, that it isn't natural, or that the couples wouldn't be good parents. Others would be against it for religious reasons. Some people like Bill Maier, a child psychologist working with the conservative Focus on the Family, would say, Children in foster care ?are already scarred' by abuse and neglect, we would want to do everything we could to place them in the optimal home environment. But studies show that gay couples are doing really well raising children. With gay couples adopting, there could be many more homes available for kids and orphans around the world. I'm sure that a foster child would prefer to love in a loving and nurturing home with a gay couple, rather than move around from foster parent to foster parent. Foster children are often victims of "foster care shuffle." For example, a child can live in twenty different homes before he or she turns eighteen. Anna Freud, a child psychologist, wrote a child can handle almost anything better than instability.

In the United States alone, the number of children forced into the foster care system is incredible. According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System Report there were about 423,773 children in foster care in the United States only a couple of years ago. ( afcars report). Each foster child in the system should have a chance at adoption so to deny gay couples the right to adopt is not only heartbreaking for both the child and the potential gay couple but also unconstitutional. In some areas, gay parents are already serving as foster parents towards children so gay adoption is just a step away.

One religion against gay adoption is the Catholic religion; it opposes gay adoption because its belief is that it's not healthy for a child to grow up with gay parents. They argue that because gays or lesbian couples consist of only one sex, the child is denied either a father or a mother. However, they are forgetting that gays are normal people who have families which can include parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends and many others that the children can be influenced by, and while the parents will be the child's main influence, they will have other people in their lives too.

A requirement of being a parent shouldn't focus on a person's sexual orientation; it's not an aspect that should matter. The main things to look for when evaluating a person's worth as a parent should be whether or not the person is caring, devoted, and stable. In an article by Jon Campbell, it is stated that a man, Danny Stewart, found a recently-born baby on a subway. The baby was taken into custody and when Jon Campbell was asked to testify about this baby the judge asked if he was interested in adopting. Soon after, he and his partner, Peter Mercurio, adopted the baby, thinking that it might be their only chance in adopting a child. Another example of how much gay couples value having children is shown by Birtcher, a 44 year old hair salon owner, when he said, "Our prisons are full of people who were in foster care, and those people were in, quote unquote, straight family homes, if I can provide a loving, stable home for my little boy, that's the goal." These articles show how much gay couples value having children and it shows that they could great parents, despite irrational arguments against them.

Another argument that some would make is that growing up in a family with gay parents could have damaging and lasting psychological effects on the child. And while some may agree to this, Bryan Samuels, from Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, proves to those who agree with that statement wrong. He clearly stated, The child welfare system has come to understand that placing a child in a gay or lesbian family is no greater risk than placing them in a heterosexual family. Another source states that High-risk children adopted from foster care do equally well when placed with gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents, UCLA psychologists report in the first multi-year study of children adopted by these three groups of parents.(Wolpert). The only possible damaging psychological effects are from the bullying from ignorant peers that learned prejudices passed down from their parents.

The society worries about gays as parents, but gay parents worry about the impact of society on their children. The prejudices from society can harm these adopted children only because it's still a rarity. However, if gays and lesbians were able to adopt more frequently, and without discrimination, society would be more open about gays as parents. A nine-year-old little girl kept getting teased because of her parents' sexual orientations. Does that sound wrong? It should. If society was more accepting, her peers would be less likely to tease her. Allowing homosexual couples to adopt everywhere will open so many more doors, children in foster care will have a higher chance at a permanent home, and gays will have the rights to be parents given back to them, something that should have never been taken away in the first place.

Ultimately, the legalization of gay adoption everywhere would benefit our society, having loving homes in which orphaned children can go to is a blessing for both the child and the parents. It would lessen the probability of juvenile delinquents resulting from the horrible conditions of the foster care system. Children wouldn't be harmfully affected growing up with homosexual parents; they would be more than likely to be grateful to have a family. Anyone who has the ability to raise a child in a loving and secure home and most importantly, wants a child, deserves to become a parent and should not be denied the pleasure of raising a child. Gay adoption is a positive solution to the number of children that go each year without a loving home and family.

Works Cited

1. Sunshine, Adam's. "Gay Adoption Research Paper | The Official Adam Lambert Site." The Official Adam Lambert Site. Adam Lambert Site, 3 May 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
2. Gay Adoption. Love and Pride, 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
3. Hitt, Caitlyn. "There's No Difference Between Same-Sex & Opposite Sex Parents."YourTango. Your Tango, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
4. Merkle, Daniel. "More Americans Support Gay Adoption." ABC News. ABC News Network, 2 Apr. 0000. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
5. Sieczkowski, Cavan. "Gay Couple Shares Unbelievable Story Of Adoption After Finding Baby On Subway." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 01 Mar. 2013. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
6. Stone, Andrea. "USATODAY.com - Both Sides on Gay Adoption Cite Concern for Children." USATODAY.com - Both Sides on Gay Adoption Cite Concern for Children. USA Today, 20 Feb. 2006. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.
7. Tavernise, Sabrina. "Adoptions Rise by Same-Sex Couples, Despite Legal Barriers." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 June 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.
8. Wolpert, Stuart. "For News Media." Foster Kids Do Equally Well When Adopted by Gay, Lesbian Or Heterosexual Parents / UCLA Newsroom. Ucla Newsroom, 18 Oct. 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2013.

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