More on limiting adoptions

This one is more specific to pending legislation in Arizona: the Arizona Daily Star editorialized against prioritizing adoptions.

The bill "doesn't say homosexuals can't adopt. It doesn't say singles can't adopt. It's just a matter of policy that to the extent there are choices, we're going to opt for a married situation," [the bill's sponsor, Majority Leader Steve] Tully said in Thursday's Star.

The bill purports not to be exclusive, but in practice it would be.

The bill would be helpful to newborns and couples who want to adopt them, but it would be harmful to older children and the single parents who might be more willing to adopt them.

"The biggest risk in this bill is that we're going to have kids who will remain in foster care when there are qualified single parents who could adopt them," said Carol Kamin, president and CEO of the Children's Action Alliance, a Phoenix-based advocacy group. "That's horrendous and there's no excuse for it."

There are so many reasons this bill is a horrible idea. Most importantly, it's bad for kids in the foster system. But it's also unfair to prospective parents.

I'll repeat it again: determining whether someone would make a fit adoptive parent should be based on that person's ability to parent, not on his or her marital status.