(New York City) A study of LGBT parents has found they are more likely to be involved in their children's K-12 education than the general parent population.
It found that the parents were more involved in school activities and were more likely to have consistent communication with school personnel. In addition, both LGBT parents and children of LGBT parents often report harassment because of their family structure.
Compared to data from the National Center for Education Statistics LGBT parents are more likely to attend a parent-teacher conference in the past year (94 percent to 77 percent) and more likely to volunteer (67 percent to 42 percent).
Current estimates indicate there are more than seven million LGBT parents with school-age children in the United States.
More than half of LGBT parents described various forms of exclusion from their school communities: being excluded or prevented from fully participating in school activities and events, being excluded by school policies and procedures, and being ignored and feeling invisible.
In addition, LGBT parents reported mistreatment from other parents in the school community and even from their children's peers at school. Twenty-six percent of LGBT parents in the survey reported mistreatment from other parents and 21 percent reported hearing negative comments about being LGBT from students.
The study found that nearly a quarter of students felt unsafe around other students at school due to others' negative attitudes toward people with LGBT parents.
Forty-two percent said they had been verbally harassed at school in the past year because their parents were LGBT. Over a third reported that they had been verbally harassed because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation and nearly a third had experienced verbal harassment because of the way in which they expressed their gender.
Additionally, the report said that nearly a quarter of students said that a teacher, principal or other school staff person had discouraged them from talking about their family at school, and more than a third had felt that school personnel did not acknowledge their LGBT family. Furthermore, 28 percent said they heard teachers or other school staff make negative comments about LGBT families.
full article
There are over 80,000 children in the foster care system in California. Some find loving adoptive homes, but for many more the future is uncertain, especially for LGBT kids.
Local agency Family Builders by Adoption, which has been committed to placing kids with families since 1976, hopes to change that.
This month, Family Builders unveiled a new ad campaign aimed at foster parents who may be willing to adopt LGBT kids. The ads feature a mother holding a picture of her gay son with his prom date and the slogan "My Pride and Joy. Be a foster parent to an LGBTQ kid. Everyone deserves a proud parent."
The ads address the urgent need to find families for the LGBT kids in the foster system. The kids awaiting foster families mostly live in group homes, which Family Builders Executive Director Jill Jacobs said "is the last place most gay kids should be."
"Group homes and congregate care are based on gender identification, and when you have fluid gender identity or you're questioning your gender identity, it's the last place you should be. And it's the place LGBT kids end up in the most," Jacobs said.
Currently, Family Builders is working with fewer than five foster homes, and Jacobs said they receive calls every day from organizations trying to place children.
"We are really looking to the community to step up and help us make sure LGBT youth are with safe and affirming and loving families," Jacobs said.
"We love single parents, we love couples, families who have raised kids, families who've not been parents and want to be," Jacobs said. "I often hear from people who are in their 40s and 50s that 'I'm too old,' but they're the perfect age to raise an older child. Other than criminal record clearance, we don't have a lot of obstacles and barriers."
For more information on how to become a foster parent, call Family Builders at (510) 272-0204, or visit http://www.familybuilders.org.
It all started early morning on August 13, 2007 when after treating Josh with all the available asthma medicine at home and consulting with his physician I got him ready to go to the hospital. I packed his pajamas, a few story books, paper with crayons, some toys, the medical insurance ID card and all of his medical records and drugs that I had administered. As Joshua’s other dad, Andy (my “husband” for almost 22 years) was also coming with us to the hospital, I ran back to get Josh’s birth certificate. I thought with that extra document no one would question having both of Josh’s dads in the emergency room. (Joshua’s birth certificate lists both of us as his parents).
The questions the nurse asked me might have been acceptable if they were asked to a single other parent at that hospital. After asking other parents at the hospital if they were asked to prove parental rights, I found out we were the only family singled out.
http://www.familypride.org/blog/2007/09/a-story-every-lgbtq-parent-must-read.html
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The battle for GLBT family recognition and full legal rights is being waged not just in courts and state legislatures. It is being waged on a daily basis in the media, in PTA meetings and in daycare centers throughout the country. These are the places where it has become important to assert, in the words of The Who, that “the kids are alright.” But beneath the magazine cover stories with glossy photos of smiling parents and beautiful children, and unspoken in conversations about grade-point averages and athletic or artistic talent, lies a growing worry that our deep, dark secrets—our kid might be a bed wetter or on ADHD meds or coming home red-eyed from smoking pot—could get out to the straight world. We fear that as soon as any of these secrets becomes widely known, somebody will say, “See, I knew this kind of thing would happen if they had children.”
http://www.familypride.org/blog/2007/08/glbt-families-and-the-pressure-to-be-perfect.html
Should the legal ties between parents and their adopted child unravel if the family leaves the state where the adoption decree was handed down?
Oklahoma appeals court says no.
Read the entire article at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/60289/
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