Dr. Philip McAdoo and his family are no strangers to Family Equality Council’s Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. In fact, Dr. McAdoo and his then 8 year old son worked closely with Georgia Congressman John Lewis in 2013 around the reintroduction of the Every Child Deserves a Family Act.
Unfortunately, the act, aimed to prohibit adoption and foster care agencies receiving federal funding from discriminating against potential foster or adoptive families due to sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or sexual orientation of the child in care, did not pass Congress.
While social progress does not tend to be a linear process, the Trump administration has brought with it an extreme backsliding of LGBTQ legal protections. As of today, seven states have passed license to discriminate laws specifically stating that adoption and foster care agencies may choose not to place children with a family if the placement somehow directly conflicts with their religious beliefs. At least another seven states currently have similar bills drafted and moving through their local government.
Our country is dealing with a severe foster care crisis. There are nearly half a million children in foster care, and we just don’t have enough families stepping up to offer permanency for these kids. Instead of looking to the LGBTQ community, a community that has time and time again spoken up about our willingness to bring children into our homes, these laws create even more barriers to a child finding love and permanency.
One of these bills is currently being fought in Georgia where Dr. McAdoo and his husband adopted their son. Dr. McAdoo notes that while he and his partner did face microaggressions around religion and identity in the adoption process, they both felt incredibly fortunate to have found an agency that acted as a strong advocate for them.
Dr. McAdoo was outraged to hear that Georgia is attempting to pass a bill that would prevent a child from finding a forever home, and has vowed to speak out loudly and often against the bill. His family wrote a children’s book entitled Every Child Deserves… that is dedicated to honoring the lives and stories of youth in foster care. Philip and his family have offered to donate all proceeds from the sale of Every Child Deserves to Family Equality Council to aid in our efforts to fight license to discriminate bills that continue to spring up around the country.
Our Policy Department’s workload, sadly, has grown tremendously over the last 14 months, and we don’t anticipate things slowing down anytime soon.
Stand with us and tell our states that EVERY CHILD DESERVES LOVE AND PERMANENCY AND THE ABILITY TO THRIVE. Buy a copy of Every Child Deserves, share YOUR story with the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign, and sign up with the Campaign to receive action alerts for your state. We must do better for our children.