LGBT Parenting and Child Welfare

Every mainstream health and child welfare organization has issued policies opposing restrictions on parenting by lesbians and gay men.

Child Welfare League of America
“Based on more than three decades of social science research and our 85 years of service to millions of families, CWLA believes that families with LGBTQ members deserve the same levels of support afforded other families. Any attempt to preclude or prevent gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals or couples from parenting, based solely on their sexual orientation, is not in the best interest of children.”
— Position Statement on Parenting of Children by Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults

American Academy of Pediatrics
“Children deserve to know that their relationships with both of their parents are stable and legally recognized. This applies to all children, whether their parents are of the same or the opposite sex. The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes that a considerable body of professional literature provides evidence that children with parents who are homosexual can have the same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment, and development as can children whose parents are heterosexual.”
— Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents, Committee on Psychological Aspects of Child and Family Health

American Medical Association
“Our AMA will support legislative and other efforts to allow the adoption of a child by the same-sex partner, or opposite-sex non-married partner, who functions as a second parent or co-parent to that child.”
— Resolution on Partner Co-Adoption

American Psychiatric Association
“The American Psychiatric Association supports initiatives which allow same-sex couples to adopt and co-parent children and supports all the associated legal rights, benefits, and responsibilities which arise from such initiatives.”
— Position Statement on Adoption and Co-parenting of Children by Same-sex Couples

American Psychological Association
“. . . APA encourages psychologists to act to eliminate all discrimination based on sexual orientation in matters of adoption, child custody and visitation, foster care, and reproductive health services in their practice, research, education and training.”
— Policy Statement, Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
“There is no evidence to suggest or support that parents with a gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientation are per se different from or deficient in parenting skills, child-centered concerns and parent-child attachments, when compared to parents with a heterosexual orientation.”
— Policy Statement: Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Parents

North American Council on Adoptable Children
“Children should not be denied a permanent family because of the sexual orientation of potential parents. All prospective foster and adoptive parents, regardless of sexual orientation, should be given fair and equal consideration. NACAC opposes rules and legislation that restrict the consideration of current or prospective foster and adoptive parents based on sexual orientation.”
— NACAC Position Statement: Gay and Lesbian Adoption and Foster Care