Home > Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents > Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents-Coping with the Agency Preference Hierarchy

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents: Resources for Professionals and Parents

Author(s):  Child Welfare Information Gateway

Year Published:  2000

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You are in section: Table of Contents 1 - Working with Gay and Lesbian… 2 - The Status of Homosexual… 3 - Issues and Concerns 4 - What the Law Says 5 - Types of Adoption 6 - The Social Worker's Dilemma 7 - Coping with the Agency Preference… 8 - Life After Adoption 9 - Sources of Support and Information 10 - Bibliography

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7. Coping With the Agency Preference Hierarchy

Many gay and lesbian prospective adoptive parents are troubled by the feeling that adoption agencies offer them the children who are the most difficult to place: those with physical, mental, or emotional disabilities; those who are older; children of color; and members of sibling groups.

"Often gay parents will get harder children because it's the last resort," Bob Diamond, the former Executive Director of AASK Northern California in Oakland, admits. "A lot of social workers will say, 'Well, no one is going to take this kid except gay people.' Being homosexual is not usually seen as a positive factor," he adds, noting that single people in general are usually treated as "second-class citizens" by most adoption agencies.²¹

Roberta Achtenberg, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, bluntly confirms that there is an unspoken ranking within the adoption network. "The hierarchy prefers white, married, middle or upper middle class couples, and these couples don't want the special needs kids. The less preferred children then go to unmarried couples of all kinds, single individuals, and gay people. The children are less preferred, and the recipients are less preferred."

What strikes psychologist April Martin, author of The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook, as ironic, is that the same bureaucracies that believe that lesbians and gay men are not suitable parents will place children who require the most highly skilled parenting with them. She and others have pointed out that nontraditional families have unique strengths that make them excellent, and in some cases, the best homes for certain children. Among them is an ability to accept differences, to understand what it is like to be in the minority, to demonstrate flexible gender roles, to be open about sexuality with children who have been sexually abused, and to understand the special needs of homosexual children.

April Martin suggests that gays and lesbians who want to adopt younger, healthier children can find them by working with private agencies or by working directly with birthparents. Some birthparents have specifically chosen openly gay households for their children.

Factsheet revised April 2000.

Endnotes

²¹ Perry, D. Homes of Last Resort. (1993). The Advocate: 46. back

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You are in section: Table of Contents 1 - Working with Gay and Lesbian… 2 - The Status of Homosexual… 3 - Issues and Concerns 4 - What the Law Says 5 - Types of Adoption 6 - The Social Worker's Dilemma 7 - Coping with the Agency Preference… 8 - Life After Adoption 9 - Sources of Support and Information 10 - Bibliography

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Updated on October 9, 2009