State family group says child safety, not politics, should be put first in adoption

For Immediate Release
February 17, 2009
Contact: David Edmunds
Phone: 502-457-5744

LEXINGTON, KY— A state family advocacy group has endorsed SB 68, which would prevent the state from placing children in foster or adoptive homes where there is an unmarried sexual partner staying in the home. “It is the sacred duty of the Commonwealth to find the best home possible for children in their care,” said David Edmunds, policy analyst for The Family Foundation.

“Decades of social science warn against the dangers of children born out of wedlock; why would Kentucky intentionally place children with couples that do not have a stable marriage as their foundation?” Edmunds also points out that cases of abuse are often at the hands of a live-in boyfriend or girlfriend.

Gay rights activists have cried foul because the bill would apply to unmarried, homosexual partners as well as unmarried, heterosexual partners. “This is about what’s in the best interest of children, not the political agenda of a special interest group,” said Edmunds.

Opponents also claim that the bill would reduce the number of available homes for child placement. Edmunds explains that the opposite is true. “Many adoption agencies in Kentucky are faith-based and already have policies that do not allow live-in sexual partners,” Edmunds said. “This bill will actually protect those agencies that are recruiting adoptive families from being shut down by state agencies.”

When a Kentucky agency denied gay partners last year from adopting a young boy, Rep. Tom Burch told The Courier-Journal that it was ‘bad policy’ and that the state should review the contracts of any agency with this policy. The Catholic Charities of Boston was forced to stop its 100-year history of recruiting adoptive couples in the state of Massachusetts because they refused to adopt to gay couples.

The Child Welfare Adoption Act, SB68, was filed by Sen. Gary Tapp (R-Shelbyville).