Seeking Gay Parents, Dispels Myths

A Welsh children's charity, Barnardo's,  is actively seeking gay and lesbian prospective parents, in yet another demonstration that those in the know, the professional experts working in the field, recognize that parenting ability has nothing at all to do with gender or sexual orientation.   What matters far more, is the quality of love and the emotional stability of the home. Abundant scientific research has amassed reams of evidence, frequently disseminated by the professionals, and other agencies before this one have likewise made the same plea for more queer applicants - but the myths, freely promoted by ignorant Catholic spokesmen, still survive.

The resulting prejudice is one of the factors that discourages some potential prospective parents from applying. This is in direct conflict with the interests of the children, which the Church falsely claims to be promoting. The best interests of the children, the professionals know, lies in admitting the largest possible pool of applicants, irrespective of orientation, so that each child may be matched with the best possible parents. At present, there are an estimated 64,000 children in the care system in England: one quarter of whom will never find a family.  Excluding same-sex couples even from consideration as adoptive parents, as the Catholic bishops would like to do, cannot possibly improve the chances of that 25%, and could lead to some of the others being placed with parents who are possibly not necessarily the most suitable just the best suited heterosexuals.

Queer Families at Gay Pride, Rome

Fortunately, British law recognizes the facts, and does not allow agencies to practice discrimination. Now, we need to ensure that public opinion catches up with the facts, to eliminate the continued self-exclusion by some gay couples, who might otherwise to offer their help to children in real need. The tragedy here is that some Catholic agencies, rather than filling their obligation to do the best for the children, have simply stopped finding homes for children at all.

From the Guardian :

Gay and lesbian couples make worse parents than heterosexuals, according to almost one third of the adults questioned for a new Barnardo's campaign.

The belief is so prevalent, said Anne Marie Carrie, the charity's new chief executive, that it is discouraging significant numbers of people from considering adoption at a time when adoptions are at an historic low.

"Our poll not only highlights a disturbing and prevalent belief system but also a deepening concern that children in the care system are continuing to lose out on potential parents," she said.

Carrie said the idea that gay parents are second best "must be challenged". "To suggest that a same sex couple is not as able to raise a child as a heterosexual couple is at once absurd and unsubstantiated," she added. "To continue to discourage potential adopters simply because of their sexual orientation is severely diminishing the chances of securing loving, stable homes for the children who are waiting."

Research collected by the charity shows that only 3.75% – or 120 out of 3,200- children adopted in England in 2010 were adopted by same-sex couples: a figure that was evenly split between couples who were and were not in a civil partnership.

There are more than 64,000 children in the care system in England: one quarter of whom will never find a family.

Adoption UK's chief executive, Jonathan Pearce, said there was a "certain irony" in gay and lesbian couples being discriminated against when seeking to adopt children.

"After all, children from care are placed for adoption in the majority of cases because they have been abused and neglected in their birth families, the overwhelming majority of which would have been heterosexual parents," he said. "We don't then conclude that all heterosexual parents are bad parents."

Pearce said that his charity's own recent survey of adopters' experience of being recruited and assessed, revealed that "at least" one-third of couples reported experiencing "prejudice and discrimination, whether in relation to their race or ethnicity, sexuality, marital status or financial situation".

"A person's ability to parent is not based upon any of these factors," he said. "At a time when we are trying to recruit and support many more adopters to be parents for the 4,000 children that we know need adopting from care, it is a gross dereliction of duty that we cannot stamp out these misplaced prejudices. How will we explain this in the future to those who spend their childhood in care, but could have benefited from an adoptive family?"

The right of gay couples to adopt was introduced in 2002 by then prime minister, Tony Blair, in a drive to increase the number of adoptions from care by 50%.

But religious leaders claim that the number of adoptions has dropped by 30% since Labour's sexual orientation regulations were bought into law in 2007, thanks to the bar it imposed on adoptions through Christian agencies that do not approve of gay rights.

Ten out of 11 Catholic agencies said the law had forced them to stop finding homes for children because they refuse to deal with gay couples.

The only remaining Catholic agency fighting the legislation, Leeds-based Catholic Care, is still engaged in a high court battle.

Related Articles

• Won't someone please think of the kiddies?
• Expert View on Gay Adoption: Beneficiaries are the Children.
• A Conservative, Christian Case for Gay Adoption.
• Gay Adoption, Gay Marriage as Moral Obligations: Two Jewish Views
• Gay Adoption: The Best Interests of Children, and the Question of Evidence (Again)
• What Constitutes a “Family”? Empirical Study Finds A Wider View
• Defending Real Families
• The Fallacy of the Church Push Against Gay Adoption

• Charity's plea for gay adoption (bbc.co.uk)
• Charity Attacks Opposition to Gay Adoption (news.sky.com)