New York Marriage Law Expected to Increase Adoptions

13 Jul 2011

New York could see more adoptions by same-sex couples once they can marry under the new law that takes effect July 24.

State law already allows unmarried and married same-sex couples, whose marriages from elsewhere are recognized, to adopt, but experts expect thousands more couples to marry in New York under the new law. Starting a family through the adoption process would be the next natural step for some, and being married can make a stronger impression during the competitive adoption process, the Associated Press reports.

According to the AP, 2010 census data on adoptions by same-sex couples in the five other states that have marriage equality, plus Washington, D.C., will not be available until later this year, but demographer Gary Gates of the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, thinks it will show an increase based on data from the past.

"But nationwide, about 19,000 gay couples had adopted children as of 2009, he said. That's up from 10,700 couples in 2000 -- the same year Vermont began offering civil unions and four years before Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage," reports the AP.

As in other states, conservative religious groups that oppose marriage equality expressed concern about the prospect of adoptions by same-sex couples in New York.

(via The Advocate)