Some people say that children need both a mother and a father to raise them, but there are many others who believe that gender does not matter when parenting. Of the 594,000 same-sex couple households in the United States, 115,000 have children. Over the years, the number of children living with LGBT parents has risen tremendously. As the trend continues, that number will only increase, as same sex adoption and parenting becomes more and more widely accepted.

Some people still think being gay means you can’t be a parent. How untrue this is, is maddening. Parent-child relationships are typically just as strong in same-sex couples as in heterosexual ones. Research suggests that gay fathers show greater levels of interaction with their child than other types of parents. Same-sex families are thriving; they score particularly well in assessments of family relationships, parental well-being, and child adjustment.

Everyone deserves a family and Adoption Choices of Missouri does not discriminate based on the gender or sexuality of our families. We don’t just understand the fact that every family looks different—we embrace it. We work with both gay & straight couples and singles to build their families through adoption.

Here are some additional statistics supporting gay adoption in the United States:

• Researchers estimate the total number of children nationwide living with at least one gay parent ranges from 6 to 14 million.³
• An estimated two million LGBT people are interested in adopting.⁴
• Gay and lesbian parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the United States.⁴
• More than 16,000 same-sex couples are raising an estimated 22,000 adopted children in the United States.²
• More than 16,000 adopted children are living with lesbian and gay parents in California, the highest number in the United States.⁴
• Same-sex parents in the United States are four times more likely than different-sex parents to be raising an adopted child. Among couples with children under the age of 18 in the home, 13% of same-sex parents have an adopted child, compared to just 3% of different-sex parents.²
• The median age of same-sex adoptive parents is 42, as opposed to 44 for comparable opposite-sex parents.²

Gay Adoption State Laws

• Same-sex couples in all states can petition for joint adoption statewide. Couples may be required to be in a legally recognized relationship, such as a marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership.⁵
• States that explicitly allow same-sex couples to petition for a second parent adoption include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.⁵

Sources:

(1) U.S. Census Bureau. 2010 Census Briefs.
Daphne Lofquist, Same-Sex Couple Households. Current Population Reports, ACSBR/10-03. U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC. 2011.

(2) Gary J. Gates. LGBT Parenting in the United States. The Williams Institute, Los Angeles, CA. 2013.

(3) Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care. American Civil Liberties Union, New York, NY.

(4) Gary J. Gates, M.V. Lee Badgett, Kate Chambers, Jennifer Macomber, Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States. The Williams Institute, Los Angeles, CA. 2007.

(5) Equality Maps: Foster and Adoption Laws. Movement Advancement Project. Denver, CO.