The incredible financial burden of Florida’s homophobic ban on adoption
The State of Florida could save $3.4 million dollars in the first year after lifting its gay adoption ban, according to The Williams Institute, at the UCLA School of Law.
A new study, titled Cost of Florida’s Ban on Adoption by GLB Individuals and Same-Sex Couples examines the impact on Florida’s children and the cost to the State of Florida created by the current ban on adoption by gay individuals and same-sex couples. Researchers used data about the number of children adopted each year as a way to estimate the number of gay people and same-sex couples who would be likely to serve as adoptive parents if the ban were not in place.
Research findings indicate that prohibiting gay people from adopting means that 165 children must remain in foster care or must have alternative adoptive homes recruited for them. As a result, it’s estimated that the ban costs the State of Florida over $2.5 million in per year. This estimate is conservative since some likely additional costs are difficult to quantify.
The study also estimates that if the ban were lifted, both adoption and foster care by gay people and same-sex couples would increase to the average United States level, leading to 219 children being adopted, and saving the State of Florida $3.4 million dollars in the first year.
For a state Like Florida to not allow gays and lesbian couples to adopt is absurd! FL is not a conservative state like Alabama or Iowa.If gays and lesbians are allowed rights in those states to adopt I would have thought that FL would have been way ahead of them. I have lived in AL and visited IA and those people are way behind in acceptance of minorities, gays, lesbians, etc. so why is FL taking the stance it is? IT IS NOT RIGHT to keep loving couples from adopting just because of their sexual preference which they have no control over! They WANT children as opposed to some people who have children because of lack of birth control but do not want or take care of their children. Let the loving and family oriented gays and lesbians adopt especially since FL allows singles to adopt but not them! Where is the fairness???
As members of the Christian community, my wife and I find it unfair and immoral for Florida not to permit adoption of children by those gays and lesbians who want children and above all, want to love and take care of them. We personally know several lesbian couples who are doing a wonderful job of raising their children. We appeal to all BELIEVERS as well as NON-BELIEVERS to urge our state governments to allow this as soon as possible. In a country where we go to great (wonderful) lengths to rescue pets it seems even more of a moral outrage not to permit this for children to be adopted into loving and caring families; be they lesbian or gay.
Art & Jan Nickel
Melbourne, Florida