Adoptions by gay couples have nearly tripled in the last 10 years, the AP reports:
About 21,740 same-sex couples had adopted children in 2009, up from 6,477 in 2000, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. About 32,571 adopted children were living with same-sex couples in 2009, up from 8,310 in 2000. The figures are an analysis of newly released Census Bureau estimates.
The New York-based Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute released a report Thursday culminating a four-year project surveying 158 gay and lesbian parents and their experience with the adoption process. Their researchers found the highest number of homosexuals adopted children from Massachusetts, California, New York and Texas.
Said Miami attorney Elizabeth Schwartz: "It's a stratospheric increase. It's like going from zero to 60. I think many really dreamed of doing this but it wasn't something they ever thought would become a reality."
The article then goes on to talk about adoption laws in Florida (the Gill case), Arkansas, Illinois, and Virginia and some of the hurdles those states have had in allowing (or not) couples to adopt.
Still, an interesting fact at the end of the piece:
While the number of gay couples adopting is increasing, the overall number of same-sex couples raising kids is actually declining, said Gary Gates, demographer at the Williams Institute.
"The bulk of parenting among gay people is still people who had children at a young age with a different sex partner before they were out," Gates said.
