April 7, 2008: Bill Banning Unmarried Adoption Up in Senate Judiciary Committee - Urge Senators to Vote NO on SB3910

Dear ACLU-TN Alert Network:

SB3910, the bill that bans unmarried couples from adopting, is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The bill is #34 on the calendar and will either be heard on Tuesday afternoon (April 8) at the 3:30 p.m. meeting or Wednesday morning (April 9) at the 8:00 am meeting. Both meetings will be held in Room 12 at Legislative Plaza.

Please contact all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote NO on SB3910. The bill's sponsor, Paul Stanley, also serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it is important that he too is called and asked to withdraw his bill. If your state senator serves on this committee, it is especially important that you contact him/her.

Talking Points and Senate Judiciary Committee members are listed below. To read the bill, please click here.

To find out who your state senator is, go to www.congress.org. Simply type in your zip code and click “Go,” and you will get a list of all of your elected officials. (You may have to type in your street address if your zip code is split between more than one district).

Talking points:

SB3910 would deprive children in state custody of nurturing and loving homes. A blanket exclusion of unmarried people from adopting means the exclusion of couples who are able to provide for an adoptive child’s economic and emotional needs.

The adoption and foster screening process is very rigorous, including extensive home visits and interviews of prospective parents. The process is designed to screen out those who are not qualified to adopt. Those that do not have stable enough relationships, whether married or unmarried, are weeded out by the rigorous screening process. Determination of whether or not an unmarried couple has a stable enough household to adopt a child should be done on a case-by-case basis.

The fiscal note for SB3910 is $4.5 million. Were these funds available they would be better spent providing more resources for children in state custody and increased staffing to ensure quality care.

Children in the foster system do not always have the option of being adopted by a married couple. There are simply not enough married people who are interested in adoption. At any given time, there are several hundred children in state custody awaiting “forever” adoption placements. It is not realistic to exclude unmarried people from adopting when it means taking away potential homes from children in need.

For additional information on why mainstream national child welfare organizations do not support restrictions that ban unmarried couples from adopting, please click here.

Senate Judiciary Committee members are:

Sen. Mae Beavers, Chair (R-Mt. Juliet)

308 War Memorial Bldg.

Nashville , TN 37243-0217

Phone (615) 741-2421

sen.mae.beavers@legislature.state.tn.us

Sen. Doug Jackson (D-Dickson)

10 Legislative Plaza

Nashville , TN 37243-0025

Phone (615) 741-4499

Fax (615) 741-8745

sen.doug.jackson@legislature.state.tn.us

Sen. Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville)