British changes to adoption law

holly_johnson

Thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6300649.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6299097.stm

I don't know if anyone saw Question Time on BBC1 last night (I only saw a few minutes) but there seemed to be quite a heated debate about this.

It seems the British Government is passing a law which will make it a crime to discriminate against gay people. Nothing wrong with that, in fact, everything right with that. BUT, the Catholic Church is looking for an exemption to the law so that gay people/copuples cannot adopt children. They threatened to close their adoption agencies if they don't get one.
I for one think that is shocking behaviour by the Church. Who do they think they are in 2007? I don't see any problem with gay people/couples adopting, once they would have to go through the process just like any other couple seeking a child.

Do you agree/disagree?

magicbastarder

what role does the church perform in the adoption process?
do they get to pick suitable candidates?

Ickle Magoo

I'm not surprised in the slightest tbh.

Sure, why wouldn't you rather have a kid in foster care or a home all his/her life rather than a loving home? That is in effect what they suggest. If the choice is between leaving a kid in care or being adopted by gay parents then the kid can rot in care. All because a bunch of old men are blinded by an archiac biogotry - it's just crazy. A proud day to be a Scot...not!

I hope the legislation passes - the RC church having less contact with kids can only be a good thing in my book! :mad:

Ickle Magoo

magicbastarder wrote:

what role does the church perform in the adoption process?
do they get to pick suitable candidates?

The RC church has actual adoption agencies, so I presume they screen the candidates but the new law would mean turning down perspective parents based on sexual orientation would be illegal & the gay couples could sue if they thought they had been discriminated against - the RC church are asking that they legally be allowed to discriminate ie no-one can sue when they do...

magicbastarder

well, i think the church should be prevented from running the adoption process, regardless of their stance on gaiety.

holly_johnson

I couldn't agree more with the previous points raised. It is scandalous that one group should be openly allowed to discriminate. The sad thing is that the Governments here and in the UK have washed their hands of the adoption issue years ago (like primary education here too) and so don't want to get into that again.
The church has had a monopoly for too long. Coming from a Catholic orphanage myself, I dread to think what could have happened to me if they had had that kind of carte blanche to discriminate.
A loving parent is just that. It doesn't matter to me what their sexual orientation is as long as they love their child and put them first.

The_Conductor

The point raised by both the Catholic and Anglican clergy is simply that their adoption agencies are largely staffed by volunteers- who are largely very conservative in their perspectives. The adoption of children by gay and/or other people who they consider unsuitable (reasonably or otherwise) is part of their set of fundamental beliefs, and were the churches to be forced to comply with the regulation, the majority of their volunteer staffing would simply quit rather than comply with the law- in essence forcing many of the agencies to close their doors. While what they are saying may be the defacto reading of what is happening on the ground- it is a convenient scapegoat for the churches to hide behind........

Ickle Magoo

Very true, I can't think of another situation whereby any other group would be able to even request that a law being implimented because of the human rights issues involved is waived. Surely the welfare of these children is the paramount concern & not a particular person or groups idea of what constitutes a crime against their "God" & their clamouring so they may continue to discriminate accordingly. It's just shocking.