GAYS MAKE JUST AS GOOD PARENTS

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Yet another study has shown that children adopted by gay parents fare no differently from those adopted by straight parents.

Researchers in the US have found that an early adopted child’s psychological adjustment is not determined by his or her parents’ sexual orientation; whether it be lesbian, gay or heterosexual.

“The emotional and behavioural outcomes of children adopted and raised by same-sex couples do not differ from those of children adopted and raised by different-sex couples,” said Williams Institute Visiting Scholar, Abbie E. Goldberg.

“Our findings lend support for arguments that prospective adopters should not be discriminated against, in policy or practice, based on sexual orientation.”

This researchers studied children in 120 two-parent adoptive families; 40 female same-sex, 35 male same-sex, and 45 different-sex couples who adopted their children.

 All 120 couples were adopting their first child, and in all cases it was a single child under the age of 1.5 years.

The study did find that other factors, regardless of sexuality, such as the parents’ level of preparation for the adoption or the parents having depressive symptoms or relationship conflict did affect the children.

An estimated 16,000 same-sex couples are raising more than 22,000 adopted children in the US. 

The researchers said that their findings indicate that these children will likely fare no differently, as a result of their family type, than those being raised by heterosexual parents.

The study, Predictors of Psychological Adjustment in Early Placed Adopted Children With Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Parents, was published in the Journal of Family Psychology, and was co-authored by Goldberg and JuliAnna Z. Smith, of the University of Massachusetts.

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