Position Essay on Gay Adoption

ADOPTION AND HOMOSEXUALITY 1

Adoption and Homosexuality: Position Proposal

Eric Brown

Ivy Tech

Eng. 112 – Exposition & Persuasion

Instructor: Heather Burford

October 21, 2012

For many gay people including couples, foster and adoptive parenting is the foremost alternative whenever they consider starting a family (Patterson & Riskind, 2010). However, gay people are in many instances an untouched resource for the hundreds of thousands of children and youth presently in foster care not to mention many more children with the aspiration of adoption whose parents’ parental rights have in one way or another been terminated (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2009; Farr et al., 2010; Patterson & Riskind, 2010). Child welfare custom that encompasses and is affirmative of gays while acknowledging that they can offer family structures that are fit and caring will definitely create opportunities for many children and youth to get the benefit of having family.

Gay families could be a key resource for children and youth in need of homes considering that almost two million gay individuals have the desire to adopt these young ones (Gates et al., 2007). At present, about 65,500 adopted and 14,000 foster children are living with gay parents (Gates et al., 2007). As much as this is a noteworthy achievement, only a small percentage of all adopted and foster children in the United States are represented by this number. Consequently, it is imperative that State policies should unequivocally acknowledge foster parenting by gays and lesbians. Any law that hamper or forbid adoption by non-heterosexual individuals and couples should be withdrawn and applicants should be assessed according to the regular qualifications except sexual orientation. The research seeks show that children brought up in gay and lesbian adoptive family settings fare just as well as those brought up by heterosexual parents.

In addition the research seeks to explore the strategies through which a lot more could be learned and done in order to present agencies with clear cut direction on quality policy and practice in recruiting, assessing, preparing and supporting gay and lesbian foster and adoptive parents as well as children. The aim of this study is to examine the social and legal implications of gay adoption and its impact on ability of gays and lesbians to provide foster homes. To achieve the goals of this research, a qualitative rather than a quantitative research method of investigation is selected. This is because it will then be possible to understand the research problem from the perspectives of the population it involves. The qualitative method will also be effective in getting hold of culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of the particular populations.References

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