WASHINGTON, D.C. — Yesterday Family Equality Council coordinated an advocacy day on Capitol Hill, leading the charge against discrimination in the nation’s foster care and adoption system. Joined by celebrity adoptive dads Karamo Brown and Alec Mapa, along with young LGBTQ+ foster alumni who shared their experiences of growing up in foster care, Family Equality Council hosted briefings on Capitol Hill in preparation for the introduction of the Every Child Deserves a Family Act.
“Right now, there are over 442,000 children in foster care in the U.S. and over 123,000 of them are waiting for adoption. If you need a visual, imagine Michigan State stadium filled to capacity four times over, with children in need of a loving home,” said Julie Kruse, director of federal policy at Family Equality Council. “This foster care and adoption crisis is compounded by discrimination. Current policy in ten states specifically permits foster care and adoption agencies to turn away qualified LGBTQ people, single people, and people of various religious faiths who wish to foster and adopt. This biased and illegal policy exists despite the fact that two-thirds of Americans — including a majority of both Republicans and evangelicals — oppose providing taxpayer funding to agencies that refuse to place children with gay or lesbian people.”
The Honorable John Lewis, lead sponsor of the House bill, said “My friends, this is not right, it is not fair, and it is not just. These are the reasons why I sponsor the Every Child Deserves a Family Act. This bill is the right thing to do, and quite frankly it is long overdue. It does not matter whether we are gay or straight, married or single. Christian, Jewish, or Muslim… We are one people. We are one country….We all must continue to do our part and ensure that every young person and parent is able to enjoy the dream of a loving, stable family… And we must never ever give up on the right to be loved, and the right to be human.”
The Honorable John Lewis is the lead sponsor of the House bill and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is the Senate sponsor of the Every Child Deserves a Family Act. Family Equality Council encourages those who oppose discrimination to contact their Representatives and Senators and urge them to cosponsor this critically important legislation.
About Family Equality Council
Family Equality Council advances legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. Family Equality Council believes every LGBTQ person should have the right and opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of who they are or where they live. Learn more at familyequality.org.
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Media Contact:
Ed Harris, Chief Communications Officer, Family Equality Council
646-880-3005 x117 / eharris@familyequality.org