Foster Care Articles

Southwest Florida's WINK News reports on the current financial struggle of the state's foster care system. According to the news source, "deep cuts in the state budget" could damage the lives of thousands of children in Florida's foster network.

A nightmare has ended for Elizabeth Hadaway and her daughter [pictured]. Hadaway was convicted of criminal contempt of court last year for not handing her daughter over to foster care after she lost custody solely because she's a lesbian. A year and one day after a county court judge sentenced Hadaway to 10 days in jail, the Georgia Court of Appeals today overturned her contempt conviction.

State Senator Nan Rich (pictured) has introduced a new bill that would allow judges to consider the child's best interest when placing them in permanent homes. Representative Mary Brandenburg is sponsoring the bill in the House.

Since 1799, children and families in Massachusetts have found help from various children's agencies that now form The Home for Little Wanderers, also known as "The Home".

A petition drive is underway in Arkansas to force a vote on lesbian and gay parents. An ultra-conservative group wants to prohibit minors from being adopted or placed in a foster home in which a would-be parent is “cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage which is valid under the constitution and laws of this state.”

The group's called the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, and it's seeking signatures throughout an established network of churches. It's a political wing of the Family Council.

The Bay Area Reporter announces an adoption agency's new campaign to place gay and lesbian foster youth in permanent homes. An Oakland-based agency called Family Builders by Adoption has been committed to placing kids with families since 1976. It focuses on children who have a tougher time in the foster system, such as LGBT children, those with special needs, and children who have been exposed to drugs or alcohol.

The ACLU recently released a video production called “Freedom to Parent”.

The two-part video series follows two families as they fight for their right to remain together - to receive equal treatment under the law. Child welfare experts show support for the families and detail the horrific effects of anti-gay laws. The piece describes decades of research on the suitability of lesbians and gays as parents.

Following the release of a new poll, conducted by University of Arkansas, 365gay.com reports that 53 percent of prospective voters would approve the ban, while 42 percent would reject it. Five percent of those questioned either had no opinion or refused to answer.

The poll surveyed 754 adult Arkansans by telephone between Oct. 7-18 and has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

An AP news analysis warns Republicans against depending on a gay wedge issue to drive their voters to the polls.

The Miami Herald profiles a young man who found himself in the foster care system when he was about 13-years-old after his mother rejected him because he is gay. He experienced several dozen foster care facilities in which adults couldn't relate to him and other children could be brutal.

By the time the boy found a gay foster parent in Fort Lauderdale, he was a 17-year-old dropout addicted to drugs. He credits his foster father with turning his life around and taking him to Narcotics Anonymous.

Many gay foster teenagers never find a good home.

After one failed attempt in September, the homophobic Family Council Action Committee got their outlandish proposed initiative approved - which would ban gay and unmarried couples as foster parents.

Now the decision may go to voters, in the 2008 election.

Governor Mike Beebe opposes the proposed initiated act. He says the measure goes too far by placing restrictions on adoption.