Gay adoption law
Facts and Figures: Same-Sex Adoption Statistics
- As of , LGBTQ adoption was effectively made legal in all 50 U.S. states.
- Today, LGBTQ individuals are coming out earlier in life and an increasing number of same-sex couples are planning and creating their families through assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy, as well as adoption and foster care.
- As of this last decade, an estimated 6 to 14 million children contain a gay or lesbian parent. And, between 8 and 10 million children are being raised in gay and lesbian households.
- The states with the top percentages of gay and lesbian parents are: Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, California, New Mexico and Alaska, with the state of California having the highest number of adopted children living with same sex parents.
- LGBTQ couples are four times more likely to have an adopted child than their counterpart different-sex couples.
- According to a squeeze release by UCLA’s Williams Institute, same-sex couples that adopt children are more diverse in socioeconomic status and ethnicity, contrary to popular misconceptions that they
Adoption
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State Religious Exemption Laws
State religious exemption laws permit people, churches, non-profit organizations, and sometimes corporations to seek exemptions from state laws that burden their religious values. These laws have recently been used as a defense when businesses discriminate against or refuse service to LGBTQ customers and same-sex couples.
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Foster and Adoption Laws
Foster care non-discrimination laws guard LGBTQ foster parents from discrimination by foster nurture agencies and officials. Some states explicitly restrict foster care by same-sex parents. Other states ban adoption by unmarried couples, effectively resulting in a exclude on foster care by same-sex couples if marriage for same-sex couples is not available in that state.
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Other Parental Recognition Laws
Donor insemination laws apply when women in a same-sex association have a child through donor insemination, granting legal parenting rights to the non-biological mother as successfully as the birth mother. De facto parenting laws apply when someon
How Did the Law Regarding Lgbtq+ Adoption Change in the U.S.?
For the longest hour, same-sex couples weren’t able to adopt children in this country. If a LGBT person was lucky, they could adopt a kid on their hold and then increase the child with their partner. But to do this, they had to deny their sexual orientation. Adoption agencies would never validate an adoption for someone who was LGBT.
As more and more states legalized same-sex marriage, more LGBT couples became able to adopt children. This isn’t because adoption agencies suddenly lost their biases and discriminatory attitudes. It’s only because there was no longer a legal basis for their denying lgbtq+ adoptions.
Prior to the legalization of homosexual marriage, adoption agencies relied on an applicant’s marital status to deny an adoption. This meant that, since LGBT couples couldn’t legally marry, they couldn’t legally adopt children either.
All of this changed a scant years ago. There were two major cases that finally made LGBT couple adoptions possible. Houston LGBT lawyers are very familiar with these cases a
LGBTQ Parenting in the US
Family Formation and Stressors
- Overall, 47% of partnered LGBTQ parents are in a same-gender or transgender-inclusive partnership; however, the majority of cisgender lesbian/gay parents are vs. 10% of cisgender bisexual/queer parents.
- 78% of LGBTQ parents became parents through current or previous sexual relationships, 20% through stepparenthood, and 6% through adoption.
- Among parenting households, same-sex couples adopt (21%), foster (4%), and have stepchildren (17%) at significantly higher rates than different-sex couples (3%, %, 6%).
- Notably among parents, 24% of married gay couples have adopted a child versus 3% of married different-sex couples.
- Approximately 35, same-sex couple parents contain adopted children, and 6, are fostering children. The majority of these couples are married.
- Among all LGBTQ parents, approximately 57, are fostering children (%). Less than half of these parents are married.
- Approximately 30% of LGBQ parents are not legally recognized or are unsure about their legal status as the parent/guardian of at least one chi