Family Quality Council Launches National Action Center

Family Equality Council, America's foremost national advocate for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) families, today launched a NATIONAL action center on its web site (www.familyequality.org/everychild) encouraging people to send a message to Congress during this National Foster Care Awareness Month that "Every Child Deserves a Family".

The action center contains key facts about the crisis facing the 500,000 children in foster care; information about the Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDF) which would eliminate discrimination in adoption and foster care based on sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status; and instructions on how people can encourage Congress to make more homes available to children in need.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) introduced ECDF on Tuesday. Family Equality Council Executive Director Jennifer Chrisler praised Rep. Stark for his leadership on the issue and called on other members of Congress to take action to ensure every child finds a forever family.

"Time is running out for the 25,000 children who will "age out" of foster care this year before finding a family," said Chrisler. "We simply cannot afford to exclude millions of prospective parents willing to take these children simply because of their sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity. Congress must act now to deal with the current patchwork of state law that excludes certain classes of people from foster care and adoption."

Currently there are 1 million LGBT parents raising 2 million children in America today. According to the Williams Institute, another 2 million LGBT people would consider adopting children in foster care if legal and political hurdles were eliminated.