A sad day for children

A Letter from the President
Today is a sad day for America’s children.  Ethica stands on the belief that children need permanent homes.  We prefer that those homes be with their original families if they can be healthy and appropriate.  When that is not possible we believe they should be forever homes with legal connections to their parents.  Last night many laws were passed that make that impossible.

In Arkansas, a law was passed to prevent adoption and foster care by people who are unmarried sexual partners.  There were 9000 children in care in Arkansas in 2006 according to this report.  That same year 216 of them aged out of the system without ever being placed in a permanent home.  How many more children will be delayed permanency because of this law?  How many of them will be in group homes rather than family-like foster homes because of this policy?  Many heterosexual people today choose to remain unmarried but committed partners with similar goals and values in mind.  They should be valued and utilized to bring permanency to the lives of the most vulnerable children in Arkansas.  Many gay couples today are in long-term committed relationships and are raising children.  We should be valuing their ability to impact the lives of children and provide permanent homes for them. 

When these resources were taken off the table today, we must ask who will step in to pick up the slack left behind?  Will every child ready for adoption in Arkansas find a permanent home?  Will the resources used to pass this law be matched to fund the effort to form healthy foster homes for the children and eliminate the need for group homes and non-family settings for these kids?  Will every child who is available for adoption now find a home with a married heterosexual family since the passing of this law?  Because if even one child is left behind unadopted, if even one child is still in a group home tomorrow as a result of this law, then we have done a grave disservice to the children of Arkansas.

And other states?  In Arizona it was enshrined in our constitution that gay and lesbian couples, many of them adoptive parents, cannot marry and thus cannot provide legal relationships between both parents and their children.  This leaves children vulnerable to a lack of permanency and a loss of one parent in the event of the death of one parent, or the ending of a relationship between adults.  Is this policy that makes sense for our nations’ children?

In Florida not only did we do what Arizona did, but we even made it impossible for benefits, such as health insurance, to be extended to all members of a gay and lesbian family, by enshrining in the constitution that domestic partners cannot extend any benefits to their families unless they are legally married.

And California.  Again, we prevent families from having the benefits of full legal connections to their children by enshrining limitations to those families in the constitution. 

During the 2008 election both Senator McCain and Senator Obama have said that they wish to make adoption easier.  I say let’s not make it easier, let’s make it count.  For all families.

A sad day for our nations’ children indeed.

Melissa Griebel
President
Ethica