The Right To Split A Family

The NYT magazine has a heartrending article on a lesbian couple who take in foster children. The couple was challenged by the courts over adoption. The process isn't over, but it looks like the adoption will go through after a decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision. Still, how many heterosexuals would put up with this?

As in so many states around the country, in the absence of a firm policy, individual social workers, agencies and attorneys still make decisions about who can and cannot be a foster or adoptive parent. On June 9, Kathryn Kutil signed papers to begin the adoption process, which will require the approval of Health and Human Services and confirmation by a county judge. The process could take months. After an initial spurt of excitement and relief, Kutil and Hess have retreated into wariness. They haven’t taken in any new foster kids since Judge Blake’s November order; all their efforts have been focused on the children they think of as their own. “Every day, you wake up and have this perfect baby, and you’re like this normal family,” Hess said. “Yet you sit and wait for somebody else to decide if you get to keep her. You’re at the mercy of other people deciding your life.”

I know how they feel. The survival of my own marriage is entirely in the hands of the federal government. I have no right to stay in my own home with my own husband - just the government's permission until they choose to revoke it. Gays do not have core constitutional rights in America. They have no right even to a secure home. And this president is in no hurry to do anything about it.