Foster Care

LANSING, Mich. -- Legislators serving on the Michigan House Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors on Wednesday advanced three bills which would allow taxpayer funded adoption agencies the ability to deny an adoption placement based on that agency's moral or religious beliefs. [ Read more → ]

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan House Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors adjourned Wednesday without voting on two bills currently before the committee which would allow adoption agencies the ability to deny an adoption placement based on that agency's moral or religious beliefs. [ Read more → ]

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Three same-sex couples challenged a Nebraska policy on Tuesday that prevents them from serving as foster parents, setting up a legal battle in a state with a shortage of eligible families. [ Read more → ]

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Three same-sex couples plan to sue Nebraska because they say the state won't allow them to become foster parents. [ Read more → ]

Sixto Cancel says his ultra-religious foster family frequently talked about their disdain for his homosexuality at the dinner table, trashed his room and called him homophobic slurs. While he was still a teenager, he says, they kicked him out of their Connecticut home after he had lived there for nearly a decade... [ Read more → ]

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A Nebraska legislative committee on Friday advanced a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to serve as foster parents if they are related to the child or have a well-established relationship. [ Read more → ]

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell plans to announce a new campaign Friday that aims to adopt 1,000 Virginia children out of foster care, but equality groups around the state are calling foul on the new initiative, which comes one year after McDonnell signed legislation allowing adoption agencies to discriminate against gay parents. [ Read more → ]

WASHINGTON -- A bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBT people seeking to adopt or become foster parents is due to be reintroduced Tuesday in the U.S. Congress. [ Read more → ]

AMSTERDAM — A Dutch lesbian couple have gone into hiding with their foster son after the boy's biological parents said on television in Turkey that they object to the pair taking care of their child. [ Read more → ]

LINCOLN, Neb. — Lawmakers are preparing to hear three bills on Thursday aimed at expanding rights for its LGBT residents. The Legislature's Judiciary Committee will hear testimony Thursday on legislation that would stop discrimination against LGBT employees, and extend rights to people seeking to adopt or provide foster care to a child. [ Read more → ]

High-risk children adopted from foster care by gay parents fare equally in their cognitive and emotional development as those adopted by heterosexual parents, according to a new UCLA study published in the October issue of the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. [ Read more → ]

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia Senate voted 22-18 on Thursday to approve a bill that would allow private adoption and foster care agencies to deny placement of children based on religious or moral beliefs, including disapproval of homosexuality. [ Read more → ]

A Virginia agency has approved new adoption rules which authorize state-licensed adoption agencies to engage in a breathtakingly broad range of discrimination, including allowing state-licensed private agencies to deny the adoption of a child by same-sex couples. [ Read more → ]

It seems one of the final frontiers in the struggle for equality for LGBT families is teaching the rest of the world that we are incredible parents, and that our families not only deserve equality, but we are suffering without it. [ Read more → ]

Three Roman Catholic dioceses have dropped their lawsuit against the state of Illinois, agreeing to transfer more than 1,000 foster care children and staff to other agencies in their regions to avoid placing children in the homes of gay and lesbian parents. [ Read more → ]

Dr. Janice Crouse of the anti-gay organization Concerned Women for America said that the "Every Child Deserves a Family Act" -- which would prohibit federal funding for entities that discriminate against prospective adoptive or foster parents on the basis of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status -- is "an experiment" that should not be taking place. [ Read more → ]

The number of adoptions by gay and lesbian parents has almost tripled over the past ten years, despite the "patchwork of discriminatory policies" that often make it difficult for gays and lesbians to adopt, as either couples or individuals, according to a new study released this week. [ Read more → ]

When you contrast the millions upon millions of dollars that these parasitic groups of institutions have spent to marginalize and demonize LGBTQ persons against the stark reality of the needs of the poor, disadvantaged and children who need loving homes and who need to be nurtured, it is difficult to not feel disgusted and angered. [ Read more → ]

An Illinois judge on Thursday reached a verdict in a lawsuit brought by Catholic Charities against the state regarding adoption services for same-sex couples in civil unions, and ruled that the state had the right to discontinue contracting with Catholic Charities. [ Read more → ]

An Illinois judge on Tuesday granted the state's Catholic Charities programs a preliminary injunction preventing the state from canceling its adoption and foster care contracts with the agencies. [ Read more → ]

The state of Illinois has announced it will not renew its foster care and adoption contracts with Catholic Charities across Illinois, because the group has said it would not comply with the state's new civil unions law. [ Read more → ]

Catholic Charities of Peoria and Joliet, Illinois, following the lead of the Rockford Diocese, announced Friday that they will discontinue adoption and foster care programs because of the state's civil unions law that took effect June 1. [ Read more → ]

The Rockford, Ill., Catholic Diocese announced Thursday that it would discontinue adoption and foster care programs rather than be forced to serve same-sex or unmarried opposite-sex couples under the state's new civil unions law. [ Read more → ]

One of the largest adoption and foster care services in Illinois has threatened to drop those services if it is forced to place children with gay and lesbian couples, a move that could affect thousands of children. [ Read more → ]

The Virginia State Board of Social Services voted Wednesday to reject new adoption rules that would have allowed same-sex couples to adopt in the state for the first time. [ Read more → ]