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Darrel M. Montero, America's Progress in Achieving the Legalization of Same-Gender Adoption: Analysis of Public Opinion, 1994 to 2012, Social Work, Volume 59, Issue 4, October 2014, Pages 321–328, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swu038
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Abstract
The struggle to achieve the legalization of same-gender adoption is ongoing. Notably, not until 2011 was adoption by a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individual legalized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and adoption by same-gender couples is still illegal in many states. Anti-adoption forces are ever-present: From 2011 to 2013, at least five states passed laws granting faith-based agencies the right to refuse service to same-gender couples or to give preference to heterosexual couples. The aim of this article is, first, to examine the challenges confronting the legalization of same-gender adoption; second, to report the current legal status of same-gender adoption for each state; third, to report on Americans' attitudes toward the legalization of same-gender adoption from 1994 to 2012, drawing from previously published surveys of a cross section of Americans; and, fourth, to explore the implications for social work practice, including social advocacy and social policy implementation.