In a sample of 106 adoptive children living in different parts of the United States, youngsters were developing well regardless of whether they were living with lesbian, gay or heterosexual parenting couples. The study found that whether or not adoptive children were developing in positive ways was unrelated to the sexual orientation of their adoptive parents.
The finding appears in the August issue of the journal Applied Developmental Science.
“We found that children adopted by lesbian and gay couples are thriving,” said U.Va. psychology professor Charlotte J. Patterson, who led the study. “Our results provide no justification for denying lesbian or gay prospective adoptive parents the opportunity to adopt children. With thousands of children in need of permanent homes in the United States alone, our findings suggest that outreach to lesbian and gay prospective adoptive parents might benefit children who are in need.”
The study was authored by Patterson, who also is a faculty member and research scientist at the Fenway Institute’s Center for Population Research in LGBT Health in Boston; Rachel H. Farr, a U.Va. doctoral candidate; and Stephen L. Forssell, a faculty member in psychology at George Washington University. It was funded by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.
Why not just tell the truth: Children do best with their own biological parents? Everyone with a brain already knows that, but there’s certainly a lot of denial going on about it, in “certain circles.”
Is that an absolute truth, tell-the-truth?
tell the “truth,”
While biological parents can often be excellent, there is nothing about being biological parents that makes them better. It always depends on the specific people. I’ve personally seen enough examples of horrible biological parents to know.
And since you are so enamored with biology, you do realize that one half of a gay couple can easily be a biological parent. But often, gay couples are adopting children that are unwanted and/or unable to be cared for by the same biological parents you hold in such high regard.
I would also speculate that gay parents may prove to be, on average, BETTER parents than biological parents. That’s because gays don’t engage in irresponsible reckless breeding like multitudes of straight people do.
Sometime it seems that being gay is just a better way to be, doesn’t it? Unless you believe that what the earth desperately needs is more people.
Tell the “truth” dozens and dozens of studies have shown that children of lesbians and gays do just as well, if not better, than biological children of heterosexuals.
tell the truth, actually I don’t think studies have ever shown that the biological connection of parents have any bearing on whether children do “better” (whatever that means).
The whole “biological parents” thing is another smokescreen anti-gay people have thrown up despite there being no proof of it. It’s also an insult to all adoptive parents everywhere both gay and straight who do a very good job raising children who do not have biological parents available.
I’ve got plenty of students living with their own biological parents, and I’ve noticed that, to “tell the truth”, the kids are pretty screwed up. I teach in a public elementary school, and I see these kids bullying other children, throwing chairs, fighting, and failing academic basics. If this is the best the straight, biological parents can do, we need to create boarding schools that are run entirely by LGBT people. We’d do a much better job.