'We Don't Know Where To Appeal': After Fleeg Rsia, Gay Man Fights For Ctody Of Adopted Son

Contents:

• PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT
• ADOPTIVE GAY FATHER FAI: PARENT–CHILD RELATNSHIPS AND CHILDREN'S PSYCHOLOGIL ADJTMENT
• OUR PARENTS ARE GAY. ARE OUR FAI GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE SUPREME COURT?
• RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN
• 'WE DON'T KNOW WHERE TO APPEAL': AFTER FLEEG RSIA, GAY MAN FIGHTS FOR CTODY OF ADOPTED SON
• RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE
• NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS
• ADOPTED CHILDREN REMOVED FROM GAY DADS IN RSIA

PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT

As a queer-intified person a mted same-sex relatnship, I’ve had to navigate the often nfg pathways toward beg an LGBTQ+ (Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Queer) years, whenever people asked how my partner Mark and I beme dads, I ed to joke that we were set up on a bld date graduate school, we had a few drks and 12 1/2 years later, we accintally adopted our son. Beg prepared for the long hl will help alleviate fears and adoptn rourc for LGBTQ+ faiThe followg rourc offer rmatn and support for LGBTQ+ dividuals and upl terted adoptn:Adopt US KidsCenterLk LGBT Communy Center Member DirectoryChild Welfare Informatn Gateway: Adoptn by Fay Type: Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr and Qutng (LGBTQ) Fai Child Welfare Informatn Gateway: Planng for Adoptn: Knowg the Costs and RourcFay Equaly Natnal Network of LGBTQ Fay GroupsNorth Amerin Council on Adoptable Children: State Adoptn Assistance ProgramsU.

ADOPTIVE GAY FATHER FAI: PARENT–CHILD RELATNSHIPS AND CHILDREN'S PSYCHOLOGIL ADJTMENT

Gay and lbian upl have been expandg their fai through adoptn for a long time, and as legislatn has changed over the years, more optns have bee available. While every gay uple's adoptn procs is unique, there are some standard procr and steps every adoptive parent mt go through, and facts and rourc that n be helpful when nsirg adoptn.

OUR PARENTS ARE GAY. ARE OUR FAI GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE SUPREME COURT?

A uple do not need to have a legally-regnized relatnship orr to pursue a send parent adoptn, which mak an appealg optn for gay upl who choose to not get married or enter to a civil unn.

Many of the ncerns center around unrstandg sexual orientatn and tablishg whether children will velop emotnal problems due to havg gay parents. Some gay upl fd that their parents—who may have been upset at one time about their children's sexualy—e around when grandchildren enter the picture.

RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN

Hopefully, you'll have lots of support your ner circle, but numero onle rourc ​are available for new gay and lbian parents to help your recently-expand fay to grow and flourish. Dpe the fact that gay adoptn grows more monplace every day, the road ahead may be difficult and filled wh obstacl, so make sure you're both on solid footg and sure about your cisn before you start the adoptn procs. Dpe the challeng that existed for gay parents hopg to adopt jt 10 years ago, many children found their forever fay — through an fant adoptn or foster re adoptn — wh an LGBT uple.

In 2007, gay and lbian parents were raisg three percent of foster children (14, 000 children) the Uned Stat — on par wh the natnal statistic sayg 3 percent of the populatn is homosexual. For gay upl adoptg, the statistics actually apply to every child raised by LGBT parents — whether they’re adopted or blogilly related to their same-sex parents.

'WE DON'T KNOW WHERE TO APPEAL': AFTER FLEEG RSIA, GAY MAN FIGHTS FOR CTODY OF ADOPTED SON

Of urse, ’s important to learn more about how the same-sex adoptn procs works and to speak wh an adoptn profsnal before mtg to this procs, but the gay adoptn statistics n help you realize that you’re not alone. Rearch on the psychologil velopment and well-beg of children raised by same-sex parents has foced almost exclively on fai head by lbian mothers rather than gay fathers.

Although has nsistently been shown that children wh lbian mothers do not differ om children tradnal fai wh rpect to psychologil adjtment or sex-typed behavr (Goldberg, 2010; Patterson, 2006, 2009), the circumstanc of children wh gay fathers are somewhat different.

Moreover, the wir social environment n have a marked impact on children's psychologil well-beg, and children wh gay fathers may be exposed to greater prejudice and discrimatn than children wh lbian mothers bee gay father fai posss the addnal nontradnal feature of beg head by men (Golombok & Tasker, 2010). Neverthels, has been suggted that the genr velopment of children wh gay fathers may differ om that of children wh lbian mothers or heterosexual parents due to the prence of two male parents and the absence of a female parent om the home.

RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE

Goldberg, Kashy, and Smh (2012) have postulated that children wh gay fathers may show ls sex-typed behavr than children wh heterosexual parents rultg om a ls sex-typed fay environment, and girls gay father fai may show ls sex-typed behavr than girls lbian mother fai due to the absence of a female role mol om the recent years, a growg number of gay father fai have been created through adoptn (Brodzsky & Pertman, 2011). In addn to the strsors experienced by adoptive parents generally, gay adoptive fathers may be exposed to stigma regardg their sexual inty (Goldberg, 2010).

Inial vtigatns of adoptive gay father fai have reported posive fay functng wh rpect to qualy of parentg and children's psychologil well-beg (Averett, Nalavany, & Ryan, 2009; Erich, Kanenberg, Case, Allen, & Bogdanos, 2009; Erich, Lng, & Kdle, 2005; Lng, Erich, & Kanenberg, 2005; Ryan, 2007). Usg parent and teacher qutnnair, prchool children adopted fancy by gay fathers the Uned Stat were found to be as well adjted as those adopted by lbian or heterosexual parents, wh no differenc parentg strs, parental disciple, or parental relatnship satisfactn acrdg to fay type.

In terms of genr velopment, no differenc were intified the sex-typed behavr of eher boys or girls between gay father, lbian mother, and heterosexual parent fai.

NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS

This study ntribut to this emergg body of rearch by vtigatg larger sampl of gay, lbian, and heterosexual adoptive fai the Uned Kgdom g standardized terview and observatnal and qutnnaire measur of parental well-beg, qualy of parent–child relatnships, child adjtment, and child sex-typed behavr, admistered to parents, children, and a theoretil perspective, the study is found upon a velopmental systems approach (Lerner, Lew-Bizan, & Warren, 2011), whereby bidirectnal relatns between dividuals, the fay, and the wir social world, cludg historil time and place, are viewed as fluential velopment.

Dpe the monly held assumptn that gay fathers may be ls nurturg than lbian or heterosexual mothers, and the possibily that they may be exposed to greater prejudice, existg rearch suggts that gay father fai would not differ om lbian or heterosexual fai wh rpect to parentg procs such as warmth and sensivy that are associated wh children's psychologil adjtment. It was also hypothized, based on the growg body of rearch showg that fay stcture is ls predictive of child adjtment than the qualy of parent–child relatnships (Biblarz & Stacey, 2010; Golombok, 2000, 2013; Lansford, Ceballo, Abbey, & Stewart, 2001; Patterson, 2006, 2009), that parentg procs would be more strongly associated wh child adjtment than fay is the first study of adoptive gay and lbian fai to be nducted outsi the Uned Stat and is of particular tert as a change legislatn the Uned Kgdom that me to force 2005 has enabled gay and lbian upl to bee jot legal parents of their adopted children.

MethodParticipantsForty-one two-parent gay adoptive fai, 40 two-parent lbian adoptive fai, and 49 two-parent heterosexual adoptive fai participated the study.

ADOPTED CHILDREN REMOVED FROM GAY DADS IN RSIA

Wh the aid of the Brish Associatn of Adoptn and Fosterg, adoptn agenci that had placed children wh same-sex parents assisted wh recment by ntactg gay, lbian, and heterosexual adoptive parents who had adopted children through their agency. Whereas the heterosexual fai had an equal number of boys and girls, there was a preponrance of boys adopted by gay fathers and a preponrance of girls adopted by lbian mothers. There was no difference between fay typ the number of hours per week children spent nonparental 1Means, Standard Deviatn, F, p, and d Valu for Socmographic Informatn by Fay TypeGay (G)Lbian (L)Heterosexual (H)G vs.

For children gay, lbian, and heterosexual adoptive fai, rpectively, where rmatn was available, the proportn who had experienced neglect was 78. 0% of children gay, lbian, and heterosexual parent fai, rpectively, had no ntact, wh no signifint difference between fay typ, and the large majory of those wh ntact exchanged letters only, once or twice per prentg mographic data for each parent dividually, the parent who was most volved wh the child on a day-to-day basis acrdg to parent reports, and agreed by two terviewers (LM and SJ), was labeled Parent A and the parent was labeled Parent B, the lbian and gay fai.