Arizona House Advances Discriminatory Adoption Measure
- Empowering Spirits Foundation Feb 24th, 2010
Married couples would have preference in state-arranged adoptions under a bill approved Tuesday by the Arizona House.
The state’s adoption statute now declares that any adult resident, whether married or unmarried, is eligible to adopt. The bill would add a directive that state officials give “primary consideration” to adoption placement with married couples and may not consider placement with a single person except under specific circumstances.
Social conservatives championed the bill, saying a preference for married couples would help create an optimal home environment for children.
“All things being equal … if the state can place them with a mom and dad, that’s the best situation for them,” said Rep. Warde Nichols, a Gilbert Republican who is the bill’s’ chief sponsor.
Opponents, including adoption activists, said the preference could result in fewer adoptions, partly because some singles might not bother to go through the state’s lengthy adoptive process if they perceive they’ll be at the back of the line behind married couples.
Single people can be great adoptive parents and that should trump “personal preferences about the makeup of the nuclear family,” said Rep. Phil Lopes, D-Tucson.
The House’s 35-22 vote sends the bill to the Senate.
Under the bill, circumstances under which married couples would not have an adoption preference would include if a single person is a relative of the child or already has an established relationship with the child, if a child likely faces an extended placement in foster care or if a judge concludes the child’s “best interests” require placement with a single adoptive parent.
A judge invoking “best interests” would have to spell out specific findings.
The bill would not change the existing requirement for an investigation of would-be adoptive parents’ suitability, including financial condition, moral fitness, health and religious backgrounds and previous dealings with children.
Nichols sponsored a 2008 referendum against same-sex marriage, but he said Tuesday that the adoption measure was not related to that issue.
Concerns about the preference making it harder to arrange adoptions are just scare tactics, Nichols said.
There aren’t enough married couples seeking to adopt children and the circumstances to skirt the preference for married couples means single individual will still able to adopt, he said.
“It’s not going to freeze them out,” he said. “We don’t have enough singles in the system. We don’t have enough married (couples) in the system to adopt all these kids.”
About a fifth of the children in out-of-home care were classified as adoption candidates, according to a report by the Auditor General’s Office.
The state Department of Economic said there were 2,505 foster children awaiting adoption on Sept. 30. Of those, 2,142 were placed in prospective adoptive homes, the department said.
The department said it didn’t track how many adoptions involved married couples or singles.
