ADOPTION RIGHTS OF GAYS

Adoption Rights of Gays

Adoption Rights of Gays

Introduction

Nowadays the gay couples have started adopting kids from orphanage and foster homes in order to fulfill their desire of becoming a parent. Just like the heterosexual couples the homosexual couples also have desire to become a parent but they cannot because of the natural phenomenon; according to which the females of a heterosexual couples that can give natural birth to a child. There are several criticisms and litigations imposed on the adoption of a child from a gay or lesbian couple. Nevertheless, there are many countries that allow the adoption process and consider it a risk-free scenario. The purpose of this paper is to enlighten the rights of homosexual couples to adopt children. This paper will explore the scenarios and litigations imposed by different countries on the homosexual couples which define their rights to adopt a child.

Like those of many other countries, the laws of United States are unclear as to whether same-sex couples may adopt children; they lack both an express permission and an express denial of such adoptions. America is representative of many States whose laws leave the issue open to interpretation by courts and child protective services (Cameron, Cameron, 1996). This scenario argues that United States' laws can create ambiguity and additional burdens on same-sex couples that do not exist for opposite-sex couples or for same-sex couples in other States.

Though many organizations, commentators, and courts have briefly reviewed or mentioned the lack of clarity in laws of United States and other States inside it; none have conducted an in-depth exploration of legal barriers to same-sex adoption (Cameron, Cameron, 1996). It contends that although United States does not expressly prohibit or permit same-sex adoption, state statutory and administrative law bestows considerable discretion upon judges and officials in the Department of Family and Child Protective Services (Matthews, Cramer, 2006). The officials of Child Protective Services and different courts should resolve these tensions by relying on the public policy goals of the State's adoption process (Somerville, 2007). These goals do not support categorically prohibiting same-sex couples from obtaining a joint or second-parent adoption.

Discussion and Analysis

Legal Options for Adoption

A child can enter into the lives of same-sex couples in a limited number of ways. One or both of the partners may have a biological or adoptive child prior to entering the relationship. If neither partner does, the same-sex couples can bring a child into their family through biological reproduction involving a person of the opposite sex outside of the relationship, or by adoption of a non-biological child (Somerville, 2007). For a same-sex couples in United States, problems can arise in either situation: when the couple attempts to jointly adopt a child (joint adoption), or when the partner of a child's biological or adoptive parent adopts the child as a second parent (second-parent adoption). A second-parent adoption may involve terminating an existing parent's relationship with the child. The benefits of joint adoptions and second-parent adoptions— regardless of the sexes of the couples—are ...