Within these five states, LegalMatch has had thousands of clients looking for adoption attorneys within the past 12 months. Of these potential clients, 32% were single, potentially disqualifying them from consideration for adoption in Utah, Nebraska, and Arkansas. 1% identified as gay, thus precluding them from adoption in all of the above 5 states. (And possibly North Dakota, which allows adoption agencies to take into account the “moral and religious” qualities of applicants.)
Why do states limit who can adopt based on marriage or sexuality? Florida’s gay adoption ban was based on the idea that parents who are gay may subject their children to ridicule and hostility from others, and may not be able to foster “proper” moral guidelines for their children. The Florida Supreme Court considered these motives unrelated to the ban, however, and rightfully so. But what about being married versus being single?
There is no scientific data showing that children are better off with married couples as opposed to unwed or single parents, or vice versa. Supporters of laws preferring married couples to unmarried couples tout anecdotal evidence or their own moral ideals that place greater weight on the idea of marriage and the alleged stability it brings, even though the national percentage of marriages that end in divorce is near 50%. In the end, laws prohibiting unmarried couples from adopting may be as unrelated to a child’s best interests as those laws prohibiting gay couples from doing the same. Indeed, many suspect that these marriage laws are more related to preventing gay couples from adopting more than anything else.
Obviously a single parent will have a lot more work cut out for them. But we have adoption agents and vigorous investigations into potential parents for a reason. Do we need laws arbitrarily deciding that married parents will always be better than un-married parents? No. Doing so only limits the number of people ready to take a child into their homes. Nationwide almost a third of the thousands of people seeking adoption attorneys last year at LegalMatch declared they were single. Would it be fair to exclude these people right off the bat, without any further investigation?
We should be able to trust our various state adoption agencies. After all, state legislatures are motivated by party politics and winning votes. Adoption agents are duty bound to make their decisions based on the best interests of the child. Who would you prefer to make the most important decision in your child’s life?