A new U.S. study — that surveyed 1,384 couples, 155 of whom were gay — found no differences between the children adopted by straight couples and children adopted same-sex couples:
While sexual orientation of parents was not found to be a factor in emotional problems, age and pre-adoptive sexual abuse were found to be the most likely indicators of distress.
The research was authored by Scott Ryan, the new dean of the University of Texas School of Social Work, and Paige Averett and Blace Nalavany, assistant professors of social work at East Carolina University.
Ryan commented: “Our research shows that there is no difference in children raised by gay or lesbian parents and heterosexual parents. People are people.”
Averett said, “We must pay attention to the data indicating that gay and lesbian parents are as fit as heterosexual parents to adopt, because at least 130,000 children are depending on us to act as informed advocates on their behalf.”
This got me thinking about Bill Clinton’s recent comments about why he changed his stand on same-sex marriage. He said that what prompted him to rethink his stance was the many recent laws and lawsuits surrounding gay adoption.
A factor that did affect the happiness of the adopted children? Parental satisfaction with the help received during the adoption process.
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