Bill would prevent unmarried couples from adopting

By BONNA JOHNSON • Staff Writer • Tennessean.com
February 17, 2008

A push to limit adoptions in Tennessee to couples who are married is moving forward in the state legislature.

Gays feel they're being targeted since they're forbidden under both Tennessee law and the Constitution from marrying. However, the ban would include unmarried heterosexual couples too. Single people — gay and straight — could continue to adopt.

"I have friends in that community, and it is not targeted to them," said state Sen. Paul Stanley, R-Germantown, who is sponsoring the bill with Democratic Rep. John DeBerry of Memphis.

"The best home environment is one where Mom and Dad are there," Stanley said.

330 children waiting

Children's advocates said they are bothered by any proposal that would limit adoptions, especially since there are some 330 children in state custody awaiting adoption.

"What children need most are loving, stable, secure and nurturing families," said Linda O'Neal, executive director of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.

The bill is a response to an opinion issued last fall by Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper, which says, "There is no prohibition in Tennessee adoption statutes against adoption by a same sex couple," as long as the adoption is found in the best interest of the child.

That opens all kinds of problems with custody, visitation and child support if the couple splits up, said David Fowler, a former Republican senator and now president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee, who brought the bill to Stanley.

The legislation says that "It is not in the child's best interest to be adopted by a person who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage under the constitution and laws of this state."

DeBerry, the co-sponsor, said he has a different take on the bill. He simply wants to stop unmarried couples from petitioning together to adopt a child.