In good fah? U.S. legal battle over gay adoptn tensifi | Rters

Contents:

• 10 GAY ADOPTN FACTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
• PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT
• LGBT ADOPTN FACTS | GAY ADOPTN FACTS
• WHAT IS GAY ADOPTN AND HOW DO WORK?
• IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI
• WHY GAY PARENTS MAY BE THE BT PARENTS

10 GAY ADOPTN FACTS THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Thanks to a progrsg social shift as LGBT rights ntue to ga ground, gay adoptn is more accsible than ever to prospective parents like you.

To help you out, we’ve piled some same-sex adoptn statistics and facts om multiple homosexual adoptn studi for your tn. Time and time aga, gay adoptn rearch has dited that there are no trimental effects to children who are raised by same-sex parents.

As an extensn of this lg, a law banng gay adoptn Mississippi was overturned 2016, makg jot LGBT adoptn legal all 50 stat. Cens om that year, there were 43, 000 married same-sex upl wh children, while 71, 000 of the gay upl wh children were unmarried. 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.

PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT

In a standout LGBT adoptn fact, California alone had more than 16, 000 adopted children livg wh gay and lbian parents. 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. Studi show that banng gay and lbian foster re would st the untry $87 to $130 ln lost child re, wh dividual stat losg as much as $27 ln.

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. 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.

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.

LGBT ADOPTN FACTS | GAY ADOPTN FACTS

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.

WHAT IS GAY ADOPTN AND HOW DO WORK?

Gay upl n explore all avenu of adoptn, cludg foster re adoptn, tradnal adoptn, and ternatnal adoptns.

In the past—and likely still today some areas of the untry—some gay upl have rorted to lyg about their stat so they uld adopt.

When a gay uple adopts, is mon for one partner to adopt and the send to then apply to the urt as a send parent or -parent. 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. Gay and lbian groups tend to show posive rults, while relig or nservative groups often dite negative rults.

IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI

Many of the ncerns center around unrstandg sexual orientatn and tablishg whether children will velop emotnal problems due to havg gay parents. Know that there has not been a sgle study showg that the children of gay or lbian parents are disadvantaged any signifint rpect.

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.

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.

WHY GAY PARENTS MAY BE THE BT PARENTS

Still, a posive fact is that today there are more and more gay and lbian upl beg parents through LGBT adoptns. A variety of studi have shown that gay and lbian upl raise children who have the same social and mental abili as children raised by a straight uple.

Children of gay and lbian parents are much more self-aware, they munite about their feelgs more openly, and show more empathy for people different om themselv. LGBT adoptns have creased number durg the last 10 years, and many untri have laws which allow gay and lbian upl to adopt a baby. Today, more and more lbian and gay upl are beg parents, whether through artificial sematn, a surrogate or LGBT adoptn.

LifeLong Adoptns ters to heterosexual upl, sgle parents, and gay and lbian fai lookg to adopt.

Almost 40% of all agenci and 83% of public agenci reported makg at least one LGBT adoptn placement wh a lbian or gay man. However, one-third of agenci would reject a lbian and gay uple applint, eher bee of the relig beliefs guidg the agency, a state law prohibg placement wh LGBT parents, or a policy of placg children only wh married upl. Addnally, agency heads are more likely to have negative views towards lbian and gay upl adoptg when they associate such adoptns wh greater evaluatn and support needs.

There is no evince to support claims that children of lbian and gay parents are ls telligent, suffer om more problems, are ls popular, or have lower self-teem than children of heterosexual parents. Rearch suggts that sexual inti (cludg genr inty, genr-role behavr, and sexual orientatn) velop much the same ways among children of gay and lbian parents as they do among children of heterosexual parents.

There are measur some stat that allow state as well as private-fund agenci to refe to place children wh unmarried or gay prospective parents. Makg the cisn to adopt will be a life changg cisn for any fay, regardls of whether they are heterosexual, gay or lbian.

Today, 4 percent of adopted children and 3 percent of foster children are raised by gay and lbian parents, and 2 ln more LGBTQ dividuals are terted adoptg. Throughout the history of gay adoptn, same-sex upl have often faced barriers to growg their fai and have had to fight for equal adoptn rights. Combed wh the feral marriage equaly lg 2015, this urt cisn now protects the right for gay upl to adopt throughout the Uned Stat.

However, like oppose-sex upl, there may still be rtrictns on adoptn laws for gay upl based on maral stat, om state to state. At Amerin Adoptns, our program, sts and wa tim are the same for gay and lbian parents as for heterosexual upl. While the benefs of adoptn are clear, gay adoptive parents will likely also face many of the same challeng that heterosexual adoptive parents experience: addrsg their children’s racial or cultural inty, managg birth parent relatnships an open adoptn, talkg to their child about adoptn and simply adjtg to parenthood.