According to the U.S. Department of Health, there are more than 100,000 children in the United States waiting to be adopted.
At the same time, several states including Florida, Mississippi and Utah limit or prohibit adoptions by gay or lesbian couples.
While adoption of children by same-sex couples has been a controversial topic in recent years, Stephen Forssell, a GW adjunct psychology professor, has found no direct correlation between a child’s success in life and the sexual orientation of his or her adoptive parents.
“The parents’ sexual orientation doesn’t have any bearing on childhood outcomes,” says Dr. Forssell, who teaches several courses in GW’s Department of Psychology.
The study took a sample of 106 preschool-aged children living in different parts of the country that were adopted at birth by gay, lesbian and heterosexual couples. The research assessed their adjustment and development, and on average parents and teachers agreed that the children were developing in typical ways.
Measures of children’s adjustment into their adoptive families, as well as parenting practices and stress, were found to be unassociated with the parents’ sexual orientation. Instead, how well children adjusted to their adoptive families was significantly associated with how warmly the parents welcomed them.
Dr. Forssell partnered with Charlotte Patterson, a University of Virginia psychology professor, who led the study.
“We found that children adopted by lesbian and gay couples are thriving,” says Dr. Patterson, who is also a faculty member and research scientist at the Fenway Institute’s Center for Population Research in LGBT Health in Boston. “Our results provide no justification for denying lesbian or gay prospective adoptive parents the opportunity to adopt children. With thousands of children in need of permanent homes in the U.S. alone, our findings suggest that outreach to lesbian and gay prospective adoptive parents might benefit children who are in need.”
Dr. Forssell, who started at GW in 2002, teaches a popular course called The Psychology of Sex Differences, which examines human sexuality and gender differences.
“We discuss a lot of the current issues in human sexuality – abortion, contraception, sex education and gay marriage,” he says. “I love teaching the course.”
Drs. Forssell and Patterson’s research was published in the August issue of the Applied Developmental Science. Rachel Farr, a UVA doctoral candidate, also worked on the study, which was funded by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
Joint adoptions by same-sex couples are permitted in many states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Vermont, as well as Washington, D.C.
Although these states are more accepting of same-sex couples, Dr. Forssell says there’s still a stigma in much of the country.
“While the District of Columbia is a very progressive city, we forget that people in other areas of the country have other views on this issue,” he says. “Same-sex couples still face lots of harassment.”