SHOULD MARRIED COUPLES GET PREFERENCE IN ADOPTION?: Maggie Gallagher

The gay couple who adopted (actually North Carolina doesn't allow unmarried couples to adopt, so technically the twins were placed with a single father who had a live-in partner) were told the married couple refused the adoption when they discovered the children had special medical needs.

Susan vigorously contests this, noting she is a nurse and that her mother (also a nurse) had agreed to take time off to help with the kids. She says the social workers mislead her to get them to withdraw their petition in two ways: a. by claiming she and her husband lived in the wrong county and it was impossible for them to place children out of county and b. by claiming that the children had been placed with a great married couple in which the "wife" was a doctor.

I was unable to contact the social workers (who may not even work for the county now) so I don't know their side of the story. Placement decisions are essentially unreviewable by outsiders (the Esbenshades, when they found the truth, were told they had no standing to contest the placement, in spite of the state law requirng siblings to be placed together when possible, which is probably true).

The social workers aren't talking. So we don't know their motivation.

I agree with you, Lee: Blanket legal bans are unworkable and unwise--not in the interests of children. I also think the social work profession as a whole is more interested in promoting family diversity as a social justice ideal that getting married moms and dads for kids in their care. (Anyone care to dispute that? The evidence is pretty powerful.)
posted by Eve at 2:16 AM | link

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