No adoption agency that receives taxpayer support should be able to discriminate against potential parents based solely on marital status or sexual orientation. Though this is unfortunately legal in many states, you can help change this by contacting your member of Congress and asking them to support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act today.  

The principles behind Interfaith Alliance’s support for this legislation stem from our work to bring the faith-based initiative in line with the constitution and to prohibit taxpayer-funded religious discrimination. There is no right answer to the question of “what makes a family” but it starts with a child who has a parent or parents who love and support him or her. By requiring social service organizations (faith-based or otherwise) to play by the same rules when placing children through the public, government child services system, this legislation ensures that government policies are not set on the basis of one religious perspective of what constitutes a family.

A faith-based organization conducting private adoptions with private dollars still has the religious freedom decide not to place a child with a single-parent or same-gender couple if that is consistent with the values of the faith that guides it. However, under the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, if that organization decides to work within the government adoption and foster care system, it cannot discriminate against those seeking to adopt based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status. 

Please make your voice heard now by emailing your members of Congress and asking them to support the Every Child Deserves a Family Act. By passing this legislation, qualified and loving parents wishing to adopt children will no longer be denied the ability to do so based on a civil prohibition shaped by one group of Americans’ religious beliefs.