Connecticut recruiting LGBT families to adopt children as other states let adoption agencies ban same-sex couples

Connecticut is working to actively recruit LGBT families to adopt and foster children, even as other states pass laws allowing agencies to ban them.

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) has launched an outreach campaign and will begin working with LGBT organizations and community centers to encourage people to apply to become adoptive or foster parents, according to The Associated Press.

Similar efforts are also underway in New York City and San Francisco.

Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) said that he wants Connecticut to be known as a state that welcomes the LGBT community, adding that more than 4,000 children are in state care and about half of them likely won’t return to their biological parents.

“We just have to get this word out,” he said. “We have to get more of our children placed with our families in our state.”

#CT has long been a leader for the rights of #LGBT individuals.

On any given day in our state, over 4,000 children are living in foster care. We want to spread the message that ALL families are valued as potential foster and adoptive families. ️‍ https://t.co/jYsWzYPgg8

— Governor Dan Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice) May 17, 2018

DCF commissioner Joette Katz said that there are about 100 LGBT adoptive families in the state’s system, and that her goal is to more than double that number by January.

{mosads}“There are hundreds, if not thousands, of families that have a lot of love to give,” she said.

The move comes after multiple states, including Oklahoma and Kansas, have passed legislation allowing private adoption agencies to reject same-sex couples on a religious basis.

Shannon Smith, who adopted two children from DCF care with his husband, told the AP that the new restrictions in other states have deterred some LGBT families from applying.

“I think it’s nice DCF is pulling out the stops to really let people know, ’Hey, your love is just as good as anybody else’s,’ ” he said. “’Don’t listen to that other garbage that everyone is saying. If you’re a great parent, we’re going to get you a kid.’”