Same-Sex Adoption Ban Will Not Be Heard By Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court will not consider if the Florida law forbidding same-sex adoption is constitutional. Refusing to review the case means the end of the legal challenge against the law.

An earlier decision by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals supported Florida's law against homosexual adoption. The Eleventh Circuit said that Florida's lawmakers made a correct policy judgment when they decided it is not in the interest of displaced children to be adopted by homosexuals.

Some think the court's decision will have nationwide ramifications when other states address the issue of same-sex adoption.

Lesbian Adoption Ruled Legal By Israeli Court

The Supreme Court of Israel ruled that a lesbian couple is able to legally adopt each other's children. It was a 7-2 decision.

A Jeruselum paper explained that except in rare cases, married couples are the only ones allowed to adopt children in Israel, but the court had recently handed down a ruling allowing a common law wife to adopt her partner's children. The Supreme Court used that decision as their base and expanded the principle to include same-sex couples.

Adoption Dispute In Utah

Lawyers say a 20-year-old Chicago woman changed her mind about giving up her baby for adoption in Utah, and the adoption agency she was working with threatened to leave the woman stranded.

Allegations were recently brought in a lawsuit against a Utah adoption agency that solicits African-American babies for adoption, reaching birth mothers through newspaper ads. A single birth mother, suffering from postpartum depression, who left her baby with that adoption agency last month, was responding to one of those ads.

The woman's attorneys allege, she was "coerced" and "threatened" when she tried to back out of the adoption, and that the birth mother was "mentally, emotionally and physically impaired" when she traveled to Utah and surrendered her parental rights.

The suit was filed against A Cherished Child Adoption Agency and looks to seek the immediate return of an African-American child born Sept. 10, 2004.

The lawsuit claims that the birth mother was suffering from postpartum depression when she arrived in Utah. She had a 102-degree temperature, had not been eating for several days and was crying uncontrollably. When she told the adoption agency's director, that she did not want to go through with the adoption, she was threatened, her lawyer said.

The lawsuit suggests the adoption agency sent money to McDonald to "induce trust" and to "further entice" her to come to the state of Utah where only a 24 hour layover is required. The adoption agency purchased airplane tickets and allegedly promised that the baby would be adopted by a biracial couple.

At least three other single birth mothers in the Chicago area were recently enticed by ads to place their infants up for adoption in Utah. Because of the huge legal expense to challenge these adoptions, they are rarely overturned.

International Adoption Helps Orphans in Ethiopia

Sources report that rising number of orphans in Ethiopia have raised the demand for adoptions to a record high. 1,400 Ethiopian children were adopted through international adoption last year a figure that is double the previous year's numbers. Currently there are 5 million orphans in Ethiopia.

Adoption agencies in the capital of Ethiopia doubled last year, it has become a profitable market as some adoption agencies charge adoptive parents fees of up to $20,000 per child.

Ethiopia's adoption authority, says adoption of orphans poses a lot of moral questions and "Adoption is the last resort because it doesn't help alleviate poverty in Ethiopia."

Although Ethiopian adoption laws are strict, the adoption process can happen in 10-15 days if all the paperwork is complete. Most children adopted from Ethiopia go to France, Australia, the US and Ireland. Adoptive couples are using internation adoption because of the huge waits to adopt within their own country.

Adoption Interest Raised by Tsunami Disaster

The Associated Press reports that the Tsunami Disaster in Asia has peaked potential adoptive parents interest in adopting children orphaned by the tragedy.

The United States has many potential adoptive families asking about adopting children from areas devastated by the tsunami, however adoption officials say it's too early to consider bringing orphaned children into the U.S.

The executive director of Sunshine International Adoption Inc., said her agency has received many phone inquiries about adopting children affected by the disaster. She said it would probably be a year before any children become available for adoption. She also noted that birth certificates and proof that a child is an orphan, required information for an adoption to take place - were lost in the tsunami, and many countries will first look for extended family members to take the children before they would consider international adoption.

An adoption services planner with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services,says uprooting the children and sending them to another country for adoption could be devastating to the adoptees.

However, some say the most important thing is to get the children to permanent family care, even through adoption, as soon as possible, whether that comes from their own country or a foreign one.

Adoption Reality Show Flops

According to British Newspapers, Fox's new Adoption Reality show really flopped in ratings this week.

The Adoption Reality Show "Who's Your Daddy", in which adopted children guess the identity of their father, received poor TV ratings. Figures show 6.3 million people watched the show on Fox Monday. The show featured an adoptive child winning $100,000 by identifying her birth father from a line-up of eight men. The show was met with protests from the US National Council For Adoption.

Thomas Atwood of the National Council for Adoption said, "Adoption is a very personal, meaningful experience and it should not be commercialized like this."

On the adoption reality show the adoptive child correctly identified her birth father and, in a further twist, was also reunited with her birth mother at the end.

Fox producers say the adoption show was a "positive experience".

Adoption Law, Increases Adoptions, Creates More Orphans

A federal adoption law passed in 1997 with the intention to increase adoption actually creates more orphans as it increases adoption of foster children reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The law produced an increase in the number of children who were legally made orphans but not adopted. 117,395 children have been legally severed from their biological mothers and fathers since the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was passed, but often adoptive parents have not been found.

The foster children continue to live in foster care or group homes, but most are denied all contact with their biological relatives as they await an adoption that may never happen .

The Post-Gazette says termination of legal ties to parents has to happen before a child may be adopted. By making parental rights terminate sooner, the ASFA enabled more adoptions but at the same time left more children legally orphans without biogical or adoptive parents.

The National Adoption rate rose sharply after the act passed, to a high of 52,546 in 2002, with a 54 % average annual increase, but at the same time there was an increase of 82% the number of terminations of parental rights. The Post-Gazette goes on to say in each of the six years since the act became law, more children saw their parents' rights terminated than were adopted.

Supporters of the law say the adoptions are an important accomplishment, and if more effort is made orphans eventually will be adopted.

Gay and Lesbian Adoption ban struck down by Arkansas court

An Arkansas court found that children are not harmed by living with gay or lesbian adoptive parents. They struck down a state ban that prevented gay people and anyone living with a gay adult from being adoptive parents or foster parents in Arkansas. The court decision was the result of a suit brought by the ACLU for three potential adoptive parents.

Rita Sklar, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arkansas stated: “We’re very pleased that the court saw through these arguments and has recognized that gay and lesbian people can provide homes just as loving and stable as anyone else’s.”

The Circuit Court Judge (Fox) rejected claims made by the state about gay and lesbian people’s suitability as adoptive parents. Some of the Judges findings:
*gay adoptive parents don’t increase the risk of psychological, behavioral, or academic problems for children.
*Children of lesbian and gay adoptive parents are just as well adjusted as children of straight parents.
*The blanket gay adoption exclusion can hurt children by excluding a pool of effective adoptive parents.

Adoptive Parents, Adoptees & Birth Parent Coalition Protests Adoption Reality Show

A loose coalition of adoptees, adoptive parents and birth parents has launched a nationwide effort to force Fox to cancel the "Who's Your Daddy?" reality show.

Angry over the reality show, the adoption coalition says it trivializes the complex feelings surrounding adoption. In the show, an adult woman adopted as an infant has a chance to win $100,000 if she can correctly choose her biological father from among eight men. If she chooses a fake, he will win the money. Five other father-and-child reunions have been taped but not scheduled.

"The adoption reality show takes a deeply intimate, important personal experience and trivializes it, turning it into a money-grubbing game show,'' stated Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a New York research, policy and education organization. The Adoption Institute first alerted media and other groups about the show earlier this month.

An estimated 5,000 e-mails had been sent to Fox in protest of the show, most using a formatted protest letter provided by As Simple As That, an adoption advocacy group.

Earlier this year a birth-parents group demonstrated against an ABC Barbara Walters special, "Be My Baby'. This show featured a pregnant teenager choosing her child's adoptive parents from among several hopeful couples through the television special.