Posted on 07/19/2006 12:01:12 PM PDT by DBeers
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Following a court mandate, Missouri officials said Tuesday that they have lifted regulations that automatically prevented homosexuals from becoming foster parents.
But while the decision clears the way for gays to get licensed to care for foster children, officials with the Department of Social Services said it might still be difficult for a gay person to become a foster parent.
"We're considering the biological parents' preferences, and we're also considering the abuse and neglect that occurred to the child and whether or not an alternative lifestyle environment would be confusing or add trauma to an already abused or neglected child," said department spokeswoman Deborah Scott, whose office filed the new rules with the Secretary of State.
Jackson County Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff ruled in February that the state could not reject a foster parent license application by Kansas City lesbian Lisa Johnston. Johnson, who wanted to foster children with her partner, Dawn Roginski, was turned down three years ago after officials said she lacked "reputable character" because homosexuality was illegal in Missouri.
Midkiff, in her ruling, cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law against same-sex sodomy.
State Attorney General Jay Nixon last month said he wouldn't appeal Midkiff's decision, saying Gov. Matt Blunt had just signed a law that repealed Missouri's anti-homosexuality language.
Blunt's office had urged Nixon, a Democrat, to pursue the appeal, saying the Republican governor opposed gays as foster parents.
The Department of Social Services said it filed the new language to comply with the court decision. But department officials added that from now on, they will ask prospective foster parents about their sexual orientation, something the department didn't routinely do before.
Scott said that the department considers a foster family's cultural background and religion when matching them with children, so sexual orientation is important as well.
"If you have a child who's been abused by someone of the same sex, then placing them in the home of a couple of the same sex might not be in the best interest of the child," she said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri questioned the reasoning for the additional information.
"If they're going to comply with the measure, why do they need to know if people are gays or lesbians?" said Brett Shirk, the group's executive director.
Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the governor "still believes gay foster homes aren't the best place for foster children," but said the department shouldn't intentionally discriminate against people solely because of their sexual orientation.
FYI - related: 'Disrobed': How Conservatives Can Take Back the Courts
In Mark W. Smith's new book, Disrobed: The New Battle Plan to Break the Left's Stranglehold on the Courts, he advocates a radical new plan for conservatives to take back the courts. After working with Mark on the research for Disrobed, I spoke with him about the reaction the book has received from conservatives and whether they will embrace lawsuits as lawmaking and conservative judicial activism.
But I thought we didn't have anything to worry about from the courts!
Jackson County Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff ruled in February that the state could not reject a foster parent license application by Kansas City lesbian Lisa Johnston. Johnson, who wanted to foster children with her partner, Dawn Roginski, was turned down three years ago after officials said she lacked "reputable character" because homosexuality was illegal in Missouri.
Midkiff, in her ruling, cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law against same-sex sodomy.
Lawrence simply declared that people are free to privately engage in homosexual activities -IT did not state that homosexual activities were good, legitimate, or beneficial in regard to child rearing...
No Basis: What the Studies Don’t Tell Us About Same-Sex Parenting
A 129 page Adobe Acrobat document:
Executive Summary
It is routinely asserted in courts, journals and the media that it makes “no difference” whether a child has a mother and a father, two fathers, or two mothers. Reference is often made to social-scientific studies that are claimed to have “demonstrated” this.
An objective analysis, however, demonstrates that there is no basis for this assertion. The studies on which such claims are based are all gravely deficient.
Robert Lerner, Ph.D., and Althea Nagai, Ph.D., professionals in the field of quantitative analysis, evaluated 49 empirical studies on same-sex (or homosexual) parenting.
The evaluation looks at how each study carries out six key research tasks: (1) formulating a hypothesis and research design; (2) controlling for unrelated effects; (3) measuring concepts (bias, reliability and validity); (4) sampling; (5) statistical testing; and (6) addressing the problem of false negatives (statistical power).
Each chapter of the evaluation describes and evaluates how the studies utilized one of these research steps. Along the way, Lerner and Nagai offer pointers for how future studies can be more competently done. Some major problems uncovered in the studies include the following:
- Unclear hypotheses and research designs
- Missing or inadequate comparison groups
- Self-constructed, unreliable and invalid measurements
- Non-random samples, including participants who recruit other participants
- Samples too small to yield meaningful results
- Missing or inadequate statistical analysis
Lerner and Nagai found at least one fatal research flaw in all fortynine studies. As a result, they conclude that no generalizations can reliably be made based on any of these studies. For these reasons the studies are no basis for good science or good public policy.
Four Appendices follow. Appendix 1 is a bibliography of the studies and related publications. Appendix 2 is a table that summarizes the evaluation of each of the studies with regard to each research step. Appendix 3 (by William C. Duncan) is an overview of how these studies have been used in the law. Appendix 4 (by Kristina Mirus) describes how the media has covered these studies.
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This is troublesome, but not as troublesome as the ACLU with Slay as a plaintiff suing over photo ID to vote..
fyi
This "news" as usual is not the supposed victory that the left is claiming. I suspect to see a legislative evolution seeking resolution to an illegitimate social policy set in motion by the ruling of an activist judge that imposed the feelings and will of the court upon the will of the people.
####Lawrence simply declared that people are free to privately engage in homosexual activities -IT did not state that homosexual activities were good, legitimate, or beneficial in regard to child rearing...####
But it set the process in motion. Once an activity that is not a constitutionally protected right (such as sodomy) is elevated to that status via judicial activism, it's inevitable that it will eventually be seen as good. Look at homosexuality itself. At first, we were told that whatever they do in private is their own business. Then we were instructed to tolerate homosexuality in public. Then, tolerance was replaced by acceptance. Now acceptance isn't enough, we have to celebrate homosexuality.
Differing viewpoints simply won't be accepted. No amount of reasoning, common sense, or factual data can ever prevail against such an emotional & ideological onslaught.
I wonder if Sandra has a partner or a husband.
whats up with this, all of the sudden there are these "gay" foster parent issues. Arkansas supreme court said phags can be foster parents. However I talked with someone in DHS they say single or unmarried people will not get a child. unless phags can get married wont happen no matter what the ArSupreme court says.
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