The Home Study Assessment Process for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Prospective Foster and Adoptive Families

Abstract

GLBT persons in the United States have been creating families through adoption, foster care, and the establishment of kinship networks for decades. For many GLBT persons, foster parenting or adopting is not a second choice as it may be for heterosexual men and women, but rather their preference from the start. Furthermore, a growing body of research shows that GLBT persons make good parents and raise children who show patterns of positive adjustment comparable to those of heterosexual parents. As a result, it is apparent that GLBT persons represent an untapped resource of potential parents for some of the tens of thousands of children and youths who need permanent and loving families. Although GLBT persons may have been historically discouraged from fostering or adopting, changes in legislation and policy over the past 10 years in some states and nationally reflect a more open attitude to GLBT persons as parents. The home study process, central to the certification and licensing for foster/adoptive parents, is discussed in detail in this article. Implications for competent social work practice with GLBT persons are detailed throughout.

KEYWORDS:

• GLBT foster parents
• GLBT adoptive parents
• home study
• adoption
• foster care