November is recognized as National Adoption Awareness Month. RaiseAChild.US connects the LGBT community to the nation’s fostering and adoption needs.

BY ORLY LYONNE

RaiseAChild.US is a non-profit organization that educates and encourages the LGBT community to build families through fostering and adoption to answer the needs of the 400,000 children in our nation’s foster care system.

The organization works in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign’s “All Children—All Families” Initiative. The public and private foster and adoption agencies they work with have achieved the ACAF Seal of Recognition for completion of LGBT cultural competence training and are fully welcoming of LGBT individuals and families.

Recently RaiseAChild.US released the following facts—supported by academic research and surveys—about LGBT parents.

1

Over 65,000 adopted children and 14,000 foster children in the U.S. are being raised in homes headed by non-heterosexual individuals or couples.

2

Foster kids do equally well when adopted by gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents.

3

Same-sex couples raising adopted children are older, more educated, and have more economic resources than other adoptive parents.

4

Public support for allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children has steadily increased. While in 1999, only 38% favored gay adoption and 57% opposed it, in July 2012 52% favor gay adoption while 42% were opposed.

5

Six million American children and adults have an LGBT parent.

6

Lesbian, gay or heterosexual adoptive parents raise equally well-adjusted children.

7

Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents bond equally well with adopted children.

8

Adoptive parents’ ability to work cooperatively with each other is more important than sexual orientation in raising children with fewer behavior problems.

9

Lesbian and gay couples adopt trans-racially more often than heterosexual couples; transracial adoptions also occur more often among interracial rather than same-race couples.

250,000 children enter the U.S. foster care system every year, reports RaiseAChild.US. Chances for permanent placement drop drastically for children ages 5+, siblings, children of color, and for self-identified LGBT youth.

Simply put, there are not enough parents to care for all of the children in the U.S. foster care system. Every leading child welfare organization concludes that successful families come in a variety of configurations. Research supports equality.

Together, states RaiseAChild.US, we can decrease the number of children in the system, by increasing the number of qualified prospective parents. You can make a difference.

For more info please visit: RaiseAChild.US