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Study finds gay couples as fit to adopt as heterosexuals
A new study has found that the sexual orientation of adoptive parents does not have an impact on the emotional development of their children, and that "gay and lesbian parents are as fit as heterosexual parents to adopt".
The US research, reported in this month's Adoption Quarterly, used information from Florida's public child welfare system and surveyed almost 1,400 couples, including 155 gay and lesbian parents. They were questioned about themselves and their children, the family composition and dynamics, and the child's history before adoption.
"Our research shows that there is no difference in children raised by gay or lesbian parents and heterosexual parents. People are people," commented Scott Ryan, dean of the University of Texas School of Social Work, who conducted the study along with Paige Averett and Blace Nalavany, assistant professors of social work at East Carolina University.
The factors shown to reduce the risk of emotional problems in children were parental satisfaction with the adoption process, a stable income and a family that functioned well.
"We found that sexual orientation of the adoptive parents was not a significant predictor of emotional problems," said Averett. "We did find, however, that age and pre-adoptive sexual abuse were. There are implications for social work educators, adoption professionals and policy makers in this and other recent studies."
"We must pay attention to the data indicating that gay and lesbian parents are as fit as heterosexual parents to adopt," she added, "because at least 130,000 children are depending on us to act as informed advocates on their behalf."
