Finding Family: Gay Adoption in the U.S.

TRANSCRIPT

Running Time: 9:45

CONGRESSMAN ROBIN HAYES (R-NORTH CAROLINA): Government and societies have granted certain institutional privileges to marriage because these unions have the biological potential to provide societies with a tangible benefit… children.

CONGRESSMAN TODD AKIN (R-MISSOURI): Marriage is about bringing the next generation along and it works best with one dad and one mom and that’s what a great majority of Americans believe.

CONGRESSMAN PATRICK MCHENRY (R-NORTH CAROLINA): We must defend what is sacred in our nation against reckless actions of a dangerous few who seek to impose their liberal lunacy on our society.  That is why we mist fight for families and this is a war worth fighting.

VOICE OVER: Over the past few years, gay marriage has sparked national debate.  I decided to delve into the next logical issue… gay parenting.  Since gay and lesbian people will not become pregnant by accident, many of them are turning to adoption.  Here’s what I found.

MUSIC STARTS: “The Man You Never Were” (Maureen Davis & The Flutterbies)

CARD: Each year, nearly 120,000 children await adoption in the America’s Foster Care system.

CARD: Due to a severe lack of families, 20% will not be placed.

DAVID (ADOPTIVE FATHER, LOS ANGELES, CA): They called me about Leo and they said, ”We have this little boy and he’s perfect.  He’s everything that you asked for.” And uh… I had one hour to decide.

SHARON & MAGGIE (ADOPTIVE MOTHERS, SYLMAR, CA): We knew that there were more friendly agencies and agencies that really would maybe take our application but wouldn’t work with us.

FIONA (ADOPTIVE MOTHER, LOS ANGELS, CA): There’s a number of adoption agencies in the area that are open and willing and wanting to work with gay and lesbian parents and really supportive of the idea of them being parents, and so I wasn’t really worried from that end.  I get more worried when I think about the rest of the world, like schools, and communities and neighbors and other people who may not understand. Who think, for some reason, we shouldn’t be families.

VOICE OVER: The states are anything but united.  Florida does not allow gays or lesbians to adopt and Utah approves adoptions only by married heterosexual couples.  Six more states—Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma—do not permit adoption by gay and lesbian couples.

Eight states have statewide affirmative case law granting gay and lesbian couples “joint adoption” equality—California, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.  The majority of states, 34 of them, lack statewide legislation, case law, or department regulation addressing gay adoption.  In these states, it’s up to the judge, the agency, and the individual social worker.

Generally, applications by gay and lesbian couples are not approved in more conservative regions.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 34% of female same-sex households and 22% of male same-sex households are raising children.  The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse estimates that between 8and 10million children are being raised in a gay or lesbian household by either a birth parent or adoptive parents.

In 1999, the Pew Research Center found that 57% of Americans were opposed to gay adoption.  In 2006, just seven years later, opposition was down to 48%.

SUSAN GRIFFITH, LBSW (PROGRAM DIRECTOR, ADOPTION SERVICES AGENCY, AUSTIN, TX): Texas has a reputation, I think, nationwide, of being very fundamentalist, very conservative.  There are probably more incidences of individual discrimination with certain caseworkers in certain regions of the state that are very small. We try to stay on top of where our families can go for not only receiving a child and getting a child placed with them, but also what lawyers and judges are good places for them to go to consummate their adoptions.

JENNIFER SURRAT, LCSW (SOCIAL WORKER, RICHMOND, VA): When we’re investigating a couple, we can investigate the couple, but we cannot approve each parent on the adoptive home study.  So only one parent is the approved adopter.  There is even obviously going to be some difference between agencies, because there is some leeway with faith-based organizations, as well as different people’s interpretation of the way the law is written.

JOAN CLARK, M.ED (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ADOPTION NONPROFIT, HOLLISTON, MA): Part of my population is gay and lesbian families and it’s been a little compounded lately with the fact that we have married couples.  Since most countries will not allow openly gay and lesbian people to adopt, a lot people have been adopting as singles and not stating that they are gay and lesbian.  That was happening.  But once they’re legally married, they can’t sign a document saying they are single.  So that, in essence, has closed international adoptions for most gay and lesbian families.  It has opened though, that more gay and lesbians are learning that they really can adopt in the U.S. and they can adopt newborns in the U.S.

CARD: For decades, the anti-gay industry has funded researchers to prove gays should not be allowed to parent.

CONGRESSMAN ROBIN HAYES (R-NORTH CAROLINA): Literally hundreds of studies point to the crucial nature of mothers and fathers rearing children within the bonds of traditional marriage.

CARD: All major professional organizations have dismissed these reports as biased and unscientific.

CARD: Children’s Welfare League of America

CARD: American Medical Association

CARD: American Psychiatric Association

CARD: American Psychological Association

CARD: American Association of Psychotherapists

CARD: National Association of Social Workers

CARD: National Foster Parent Association

CARD: North American Council on Adoptable Children

CARD: Recent scientific researched based on a large national sample concludes quite the opposite.

SCOTT RYAN, PH.D., MSW (EVAN B. DONALDSON ADOPTION INSTITUTE, TALLAHASSEE, FL): The data so far show that these families are as functional, as supportive, as loving… any other positive accolade you can think of that goes along with all other adoptive families.  They seem to be on par with everyone else.

LIAM (RAISED BY A LESBIAN COUPLE, SEATTLE, WA): So, I was raised by my mom and her partner, Nell.  I am really impressed with their strength of character and their willingness to talk to me in a very real way about issues of our family and society from a young age.  So, I always felt like I knew what was going on.  This was my mom and her “Nelly.”  By the time I was six or seven, I knew I was more interested in girls and that didn’t have anything to do with my parents.  You’re going to meet people who are going to look at you weird and who aren’t going to be able to process the love and support and the greatness of your family that you know.  My family came together despite all of the organs of government being against us, but it was the right thing for all concerned.  I think people need to realize that same-sex families and same-sex children are out there.  They’re not a hypothetical issue.  They’re not a political football.  They’re people who are here and who have rights and who have dignity that are being denied.

VOICE OVER: Everyone seems to agree on one thing.  There are not enough families to meet the current need.  The North American Council on Adoptable Children supports full inclusion of gays and lesbians when it comes to matching children with prospective families.

JOHN LEVESQUE, M.ED, BOARD MEMBER, NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL ON ADOPTABLE CHILDREN, PORTLAND ME: Children need families and that’s really kind of the bottom line here and we need all sort of families.  We have a long way to go.  My personal belief is that if we could actually do active, honest, public recruitment of the gay and lesbian population, we probably could eliminate almost any child or youth continuing to linger in foster care.

SHARON: It takes a little getting used to at first, I think, for some folks in the straight world, but they get over it.

MAGGIE: We were just really honest with them. You know, we said, “Well, we would like you to come and live with us but we want you to see everything first to see if this is where you want to be…”

SHARON: …and we got kind of a thumbs up, it seems.” (laughter)

FIONA: For a while, all I had was a picture and a story.  I spent a lot of time looking at that picture and wondering, you know, “Is this the little guy?  Is this the person I am going to be family with for the rest of my life,” and wondering what he was doing and what his life was like and what his life was going to be like.

DAVID: I’ve always wanted to be a dad.,  I’m a single dad and I wanted to do it with a partner, so I waited a really long time.  But I decided I didn’t want to wait any more. I wanted to, I didn’t want to look back and think, “Wow, I wish I had done that.”  And now… this is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I couldn’t have a better life than I have right now.  Huh? (Leo gurgles, touches microphone, then DAVID’s nose)  Nose.  That’s my nose.” (laughter)

VOICE OVER: These stories are compelling… and I’m telling them because this is my story, too.  Being a daddy is, I think, the most important thing and the most rewarding thing I will ever do.

CREDITS:

CARD:For more detailed information, visit:

www.FindingFamily.us

CARD:SPECIAL THANKS:

North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)

Southern California Foster Family and Adoption Agency

CARD: Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

CARD:Maureen Davis & The Flutterbies

C-SPAN

CARD:© 2007, John Ireland Productions.