Gay and Lesbian Adoptive and Foster Care Placements: Can They Meet the Needs of Waiting Children?

Abstract

Although the number of children in need of adoptive homes is growing, the number of prospective adoptive parents is decreasing. On the basis of an extensive review of relevant literature, the present study explored a potentially viable although controversial and little-researched option for increasing the pool of prospective parents: adoptions by gay men and lesbians. Data for this study were collected from child welfare workers and gay and lesbian adoptive and foster parents. A content analysis of the data suggests that gay men and lesbians experience considerable and seemingly unjustified obstacles in their efforts to become adoptive and foster parents. Major implications for practice and policy are offered, as are future directions for research.

Social work students' attitudes towards gay men and lesbians in Namibia: Results from an exploratory study

“…This area of scholarship, which has historically been concentrated in the USA, has also recently expanded to include social work educators' attitudes towards LGBT individuals not only in the USA, but worldwide. A review of the existing professional literature reveals published studies of attitudes of social workers on a variety of topics including gay and lesbian foster care (Brooks and Goldberg 2001), adoption (Newman, Dannenfelser and Benishek 2002), and marriage (Woodford et al 2012). While this work largely utilises cross sectional designs using non-probability sampling techniques, some tentative conclusions can be drawn.…”

Maternal Men–Perverts and Deviants? Making Sense of Gay Men as Foster Carers and Adopters

“…They are less likely than lesbians to consider parenting in the first place but of those that do apply to foster or adopt, shorterterm care of young people is more common than permanent placements including adoption (Brooks & Goldberg, 2001;Hicks, 1998). There are historical reasons for this with gay men reporting that they did not imagine foster care or adoption as possibilities in the past.…”

La maternidad en parejas de mujeres: reformulando el parentesco heteronormativo y biologicista

“…En concreto, entre los 224 especialistas consultados en su estudio, un 77% se mostraba en contra basándose en las consecuencias negativas que tendría para la futura descendencia criarse en una unidad familiar de este tipo. Por otro lado, los prejuicios y estereotipos hacia las familias del mismo sexo que deciden adoptar también se han constatado en otras investigaciones desarrolladas en países del entorno latinoamericano (Herrera, 2009) y anglosajón (Hicks, 2000;Brooks y Goldberg, 2001;Brown et al, 2009). En este sentido, el miedo a la exclusión del proceso de adopción hace que algunas parejas adopten como personas solteras y oculten su relación de pareja (Gianino, 2008).…”