Sharp rise in number of children adopted by gay and
lesbian couples
Last year 180 infants were adopted by gay couples and another 150 went to
live with lesbian parents, according to the Department of Education
telegraph.co.uk,
23/1/2015
There has been a sharp
rise in the number of children being formally adopted by gay and lesbian
couples, new figures from the Department of Education reveal.
Last year 180 infants
were adopted by gay couples and another 150 went to live with lesbian parents.
Four years ago there
were just a total of 120 children who were adopted by either gay or lesbian
couples.
Heterosexual couples
still make up the vast majority of homes provided for children who are adopted,
with infants being placed with gay and lesbian parents accounting for around
one in every 20 cases.
There are currently
more than 68,840 children in the care of local authorities in the
The law was changed in
2005 to allow unmarried and same-sex couples to assume joint responsibility for
an adopted child for the first time.
The reform was
principally aimed at expanding the pool of potential adoptive parents at a time
when there was a shortage of candidates considered suitable.
Previously, unmarried
people in England and Wales adopted individually, giving their partners few
parental rights. Only one partner was legally eligible to adopt, with the other
applying for a residency order.
Since then the law was
changed again making it illegal for charities to discriminate against gay
couples, a move which effectively forced the closure of all Roman Catholic
adoption agencies in England.
Last week, a Christian
magistrate was disciplined for expressing the belief that children should be
raised by both a mother and a father.
Richard Page told
colleagues behind closed doors during an adoption case that he thought it would
be better for a child to be brought up in a traditional family rather than by a
gay couple.
A week later he found
he had been reported to the judges’ watchdog for alleged prejudice, and was
suspended from sitting on family court cases.