With its recent proposals, the Kansas Legislature has added its name to the list of state governments attempting to pass religious freedom bills for infant and foster adoption agencies.
Earlier this week, Kansas lawmakers introduced two new bills — House Bill 2687 and Senate Bill 401 — as “adoption protection bills.” The legislation would allow adoption agencies to refuse services to adoptive parents based on religious beliefs. While supporters (such as the state’s Department for Children and Families) say the bill will encourage more agencies to work in the state and find homes for children, critics say the bill will instead allow for widespread discrimination against LGBT parents and any adoptive parents with religious beliefs that do not conform to an agency’s mission.
Kansas is just the latest state to introduce these religious freedom bills; Texas and Georgia legislators recently introduced similar bills, met with the same criticism.
More than 7,000 children in Kansas are currently in state custody. The state foster care system has already been plagued with accusations of corruption and discrimination by biological and foster parents alike, and critics of the bill say that allowing agencies to turn away otherwise-approved adoptive parents will only exacerbate the existing issues.
National adoption agency American Adoptions — which has headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. — announced its opposition to the bill in a press release. Read the full text below:
OVERLAND PARK, KS –
As the Kansas Legislature considers a bill that would allow adoption agencies to refuse service to adoptive parents based on religious beliefs, American Adoptions wants to reiterate its commitment to all adoptive families and express its disapproval for this bill.
The national adoption agency, which provides services to expectant mothers and adoptive parents in Kansas, will continue to assist all kinds of families through the adoption process, regardless of any changes in the state law, Executive Director Shawn Kane said.
“As an adoptive father myself, this bill concerns me because of how it can be misused,” Kane said. “I’ve witnessed how birth parents in voluntary adoptions request all different types of families to help fulfill their adoption plans. By limiting the birth parents’ choices in the types of families that can be selected, this bill could actually reduce the number of adoptions completed in the state of Kansas.”
The proposed House Bill 2687 and Senate Bill 401, otherwise known as “The Adoption Protection Act,” would allow adoption agencies to refuse service to hopeful adoptive families when the placement of a child into their care would “violate such agency’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Supporters of the bills say the legislation will not only protect religious liberties but also encourage faith-based agencies to provide adoption services. Critics, like American Adoptions, say the bills would lead to discrimination against LGBT adoptive couples and families who do not meet certain religious standards.
Kane, who is a member of an interfaith family, expressed concern over how the bills could allow widespread discrimination.
American Adoptions does not set religious requirements for its hopeful parents. Instead, it works with all adoptive parents who meet its agency requirements to provide adoption home study services, education, support, help finding a prospective birth mother and more.
The agency’s website offers adoption information and resources for hopeful adoptive parents of all backgrounds, including several articles that may be of particular interest to adoptive families that could be impacted by the pending legislation:
About American Adoptions
American Adoptions is a national adoption agency with headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. It specializes in domestic infant adoptions and works with adoptive families and birth parents across the United States. American Adoptions is committed to providing adoption support and education to thousands of families every year. For more information, please visit AmericanAdoptions.com.
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If you are a Kansas resident, you can make your opinion on the bills heard by contacting your state representative.
The increasing restrictions on and subsequent declining numbers of international adoptions by American families has inspired a petition to the White House for change.
In an effort to influence the State Department of Intercountry Adoption’s regulations on adoption oversees, Save Adoptions has created a petition on Petitions.Whitehouse.gov to urge the Trump administration to not only investigate the causes of the 80 percent decline in intercountry adoptions since 2004 — but to also solve the U.S. international adoption crisis.
The petition is just the most recent call in an uproar against the recent regulation changes regarding adopting internationally as an American citizen. The U.S. Department of State added a $500 intercountry adoption fee after one of two international accrediting entities closed its doors in February. In addition, since November, the Trump administration has been reinterpreting international adoption regulations to make the process more difficult for hopeful parents.
All of these steps combined have added to the acceleration of a decline in international adoptions by American parents — while the same number of children abroad remains in need of loving, safe homes.
Save Adoptions’ petition notes that the leadership at the U.S. Office of Children’s Issues has been unresponsive to the adoption community. The petition emphasizes the need for pro-adoption leadership to increase the number of ethical international adoptions and states that “the adoption community stands ready to work with the Administration to implement various achievable solutions to help orphans find loving, permanent families.”
The petition must receive 100,000 signatures by April 16 to receive a response from the White House. Add your name to the list here.
You can also contact your local representative here to make your voice heard.
When prospective parents are looking to grow their family, there are a number of options available to them. One of those options that is growing in popularity is surrogacy.
Since more and more adoptive parents are also considering surrogacy as another family-building option, let’s take a look at the similarities and differences between surrogacy and adoption. There is much to consider when you are deciding which option is the right one for you and your family.
Surrogacy allows hopeful parents to raise a child who is genetically related to them. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is not related to the child she carries. A couple can use their sperm and egg to create an embryo that is related to both of them, and have it transferred to the surrogate mother. In adoption, the mother is carrying her biological child. In an unplanned pregnancy, prospective birth mothers also have to deal with more complicated emotions. Both methods require a different legal course of action, as well as a different set of emotions to process.
While both surrogacy and adoption can be expensive, surrogacy is the costlier of the two. In adoption, the medical expenses of the birth mother are covered by the adoptive parents. Depending on state laws, prospective birth mothers may also receive living expenses during their pregnancy. In surrogacy, intended parents pay for the surrogate’s pregnancy-related expenses, and they also pay her an additional base compensation (usually around $25,000).
One of the biggest differences between adoption and surrogacy is the amount of control allowed to the prospective parents. With adoption, a birth mom’s pregnancy is usually unplanned, while a surrogate pregnancy is always planned. Prospective parents’ involvement during the pregnancy will vary greatly between the two options, as will the wait time.
In adoption, prospective parents often have little control throughout the birth mom’s pregnancy. Before connecting with an adoption professional, a prospective birth mother may not have received much prenatal care. The birth mother is the one that chooses a potential family, and she can change her mind at any point in the process. Potential parents must prepare for potential doubt. Adoptive parents could wait many months before being matched with a birth mom.
In surrogacy, potential parents are involved in all parts of the process. There is no question as to who will take the baby home from the hospital. The surrogate knows from the outset that she is carrying the baby for the intended parents. There may also be more surrogates waiting to find intended parents, and the two could be matched very quickly.
This is a quick overview of some of the differences between adoption and surrogacy. There is a lot to consider when deciding between the two. Both options have their pros and cons, and they are both worthwhile ways to build a family. Before you make a decision, gather more information about both processes by contacting a professional in each field. Collecting as much information as possible will help you decide which method is best for your family.
