foster care

A Senate bill that would have banned gay couples from adopting or fostering children appears to be dead this legislative session.

The measure's sponsor, Republican Sen. Gary Tapp of Shelbyville, said Senate leaders will not bring Senate Bill 68 to a vote in the final four days of the legislative session. Tapp said Wednesday that he plans to file the bill again next year.

Watch Fostering Love, premiering Wednesday, February 18 at 8 pm; and February 21 at 1 pm on Discovery Health Channel.

Sherri Ackerman writes a fantastic profile for The Tampa Tribune about a long term couple and their thriving foster daughters.

Two anti-discrimination bills go into effect today providing expanded protections for gay and lesbian youth - with legislation requiring sensitivity training and instruction on the state's anti-harassment laws.

The bills that go into effect today:

AB 3015 requires administrators and licensed foster parents receive training about state laws that call on schools to be free of harassment and violence.

St. Petersburg Times columnist Robyn E. Blumner helps us get to know the two lucky sons [John, age 8, and his brother James, age 4] of 47-year-old Frank Martin Gill, who is gay. Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled Tuesday there was "no rational basis" for prohibiting Gill from adopting the brothers.

The Arkansas Department of Human Services announced it will do away with its policy prohibiting unmarried couples living together from serving as foster parents.

The AP reports that three former chief justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court say they're opposing a ballot measure aimed at banning gay and lesbian couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents.

Former Chief Justices W.H. "Dub" Arnold, Jack Holt Jr. and Bradley D. Jesson were among 13 retired judges who issued a statement Monday opposing a proposed initiated act that would ban unmarried couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents.