FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, AR – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas condemns the decision of an Arkansas Senate committee this morning to send to the floor SB 959, a bill that would ban gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents.
“This bill is bad for our state and our children for many reasons, not the least of which is that it will rob parents of the ability to decide who will care for their children if something happens to them,” said Rita Sklar, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “If you want your gay brother or your lesbian aunt to adopt and raise your children if you die, your wishes will be disregarded by the state if this bill passes.”
SB 959, introduced just months after the state Supreme Court unanimously struck down a ban on fostering by gay people, was approved to go to the full Senate this morning by the Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee. If passed, SB 959 would categorically ban lesbian and gay Arkansans from adopting or serving as foster parents, even if they’re relatives of the children in question. It would also ban unmarried heterosexual couples who live together unless they’re related to the child, which could prevent godparents or family friends from caring for a child if the parents die or can’t keep the child.
The ACLU of Arkansas pointed out several other problems with SB 959:
“The notion that gay parents are somehow more likely to abuse children in any way not only goes against everything that we in the medical profession know from the scientific evidence and research, but it also goes against my personal experience,” said Dr. Gary Wheeler, a professor of pediatrics in Little Rock who testified against SB 959. “My 15 years of treating children in Arkansas confirms that child sexual abuse happens no more often with lesbian and gay parents than it does with heterosexual parents. This bill is based on stereotypes and ignores the valid research we have on this subject.”
Arkansas’s Child Welfare Agency Review Board had established a policy in 1999 that banned gay people from serving as foster parents, and the Arkansas Supreme Court struck it down after a seven-year legal battle between the state and the ACLU. Several prominent child welfare groups took an interest in the case, with friend-of-the-court briefs being submitted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of Social Workers and its Arkansas chapter, the American Psychological Association and its Arkansas chapter, and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. These groups urged the court to strike down the exclusion because it worked against the best interests of foster children.
In overturning the earlier ban, the Arkansas Supreme Court wrote, “(T)he driving force behind adoption of the regulation was not to promote the health, safety, and welfare of foster children, but rather based upon the Board’s view of morality and its bias against homosexuals.”
More information on the ACLU case that overturned the earlier ban can be found online at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/parenting/12137res20050301.html.
Selected Findings of Fact Cited by Arkansas Supreme Court in DHS v. Howard, June 29, 2006
In its decision in DHS v. Howard unanimously striking down the state regulation banning gay people and people with gay adults living in their homes from serving as foster parents, the Arkansas Supreme Court cited the following findings of fact based on the scientific evidence presented at the trial court:
Among the other findings of fact from the earlier circuit court decision:
Sign up to be the first to hear about how to take action.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.
By completing this form, I agree to receive occasional emails per the terms of the ACLU’s privacy statement.