ACLU of Arkansas sues over adoption restrictions

[LiberalNation]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_us/gay_foster_ban;_ylt=ApBjk7Z2TLoSCcF9GqE6t9JvzwcF

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – More than a dozen families filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a new Arkansas law banning unmarried couples living together from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

The Arkansas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of the families in Pulaski County Circuit Court seeking to overturn Act 1, which was approved by voters in last month's general election.

"Act 1 violates the state's legal duty to place the best interest of children above all else," said Marie-Bernarde Miller, a Little Rock attorney in the lawsuit.

The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of 29 adults and children from more than a dozen families

[avatar4321]

I dont see how its violating their obligation to provide for the best interest of the children.

[LiberalNation]

when a kid can't be placed with his own unmarried grandma that is a problem.

[avatar4321]

when a kid can't be placed with his own unmarried grandma that is a problem.


banning unmarried couples living together from becoming foster or adoptive parents.


Yeah... not really seeing how your scenario applies to the statute.

[LiberalNation]

grandma has a boyfriend or girlfriend, so what, still the kids blood and still should be able to foster or adopt him/her if the parents are not around.

[avatar4321]

grandma has a boyfriend or girlfriend, so what, still the kids blood and still should be able to foster or adopt him/her if the parents are not around.

easy enough problem to fix. get married or dont live together.

[LiberalNation]

in thsi day an age many long term couples don't live together, my own cousin has been with her man for yeas and they have two kids together but wont arry because the gov bennies would disapear. Married to live together is not the norm and will hurt the kids in ark who need homes.

[Classact]

grandma has a boyfriend or girlfriend, so what, still the kids blood and still should be able to foster or adopt him/her if the parents are not around.Maybe the problem is that grandma has a girlfriend and the state thinks that is not the best way to rear children. Why should the state concuct experiments on children that are wards of the state? Sending a child into the custody of homos is child abuse, a social "unnatrual experiment".

[LiberalNation]

she still wouldn't get the kid if she had a boyfriend, and no it's no more child abuse than living in the system and not being adopted.

[5stringJeff]

A home with married parents is the most stable, so the law is in the best interests of the children.

[LiberalNation]

Not if you consider with this law far fewer can be fostered or adopted. So basically is staying in the system longer better for the kid than fostering/being adopted by two people who have chosen not marry for whatever reason.

[PostmodernProphet]

when a kid can't be placed with his own unmarried grandma that is a problem.

I think they call that a strawgram argument......

[LiberalNation]

I've never quite got the whole strawman concept when the argument is fact and has actually happened that way.

[5stringJeff]

Not if you consider with this law far fewer can be fostered or adopted. So basically is staying in the system longer better for the kid than fostering/being adopted by two people who have chosen not marry for whatever reason.

If the couple want to be foster parents, let them get married. If they choose not to marry, they can forgo the privilege of being foster parents. It's their choice.

[LiberalNation]

and the kid suffers by being stuck in the system instead of with his own blood. And just for pmp, why do you want the children to suffer. ( now that is more of a strawman, ad hominem)

[5stringJeff]

and the kid suffers by being stuck in the system instead of with his own blood.

And if "his own blood" wanted to be good parents, they'd get married and work on being good spouses to each other and good parents to their child. A little thing called "commitment."

[LiberalNation]

so you think the kid would be better off in the system them?

[5stringJeff]

so you think the kid would be better off in the system them?

The child may find a set of foster parents that are very caring and that provide a good home for him.

[LiberalNation]

or not because of lack of those homes because of this stupid rule. most married couples can have their own children and feel no need to foster or adopt.

Not to mention you think a child would be better off with strangers over it's own flesh and blood grandmoher.

[5stringJeff]

or not because of lack of those homes because of this stupid rule. most married couples can have their own children and feel no need to foster or adopt.

Not to mention you think a child would be better off with strangers over it's own flesh and blood grandmoher.

Flesh and blood isn't always the best situation. If Grandma was an alcoholic and let her boyfriend abuse the child, would that be better off than the child being in a foster home without abuse?

[LiberalNation]

No but we aren't talkin that we are talking grandma totally suitable but with a live in life partner. Taking kids from their family when they are abuse or otherwise unqualified is wrong.

[Yurt]

this smacks of legislating morality...what, in and of itself, does marriage do to guarantee <-- a better upbringing? it doesn't. single mothers/fathers have been successful parents and other non-married couples have been great parents....