The Williams Institute released a study last week which found, yet again, that parental sexual orientation is not a predictor for how psychologically well-adjusted an adopted child might be. The study looked at 120 adoptive families (40 female same-sex parents, 35 male same-sex parents and 45 different-sex couples) whose children were younger than 18 months at time of adoption.
The children who were adopted by same-sex parents were just as likely to be well adjusted as their peers with different-sex parents. Parental preparedness and depressive symptoms had the greatest impact on child adjustment. Adoption is a lengthy, expensive and difficult process so typically parents who adopt are even more committed to having and raising children. After months and sometimes years of trying to adopt, parents are incredibly grateful to have their kids in their lives.
While anti-LGBT advocates often suggest that lesbian and gay couples are selfish for wanting to adopt and that marriage equality would only be helping the adults getting married, years of credible research proves the opposite. Approximately, 22,000 adoptive children are being raised by 16,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. Same-sex couples adopt for the same reasons that different-sex couples do; to give a child a loving home. There is no difference in the motive or the result of same-sex parent adoption. Additionally, children being raised by same-sex parents can only be helped by marriage equality. Having married parents can make the hardest times in a person's (or family's) life just that much easier. Married parents can have an easier time adopting and certainly have an easier time putting their names on birth certificates.
The results of this study are not surprising to anyone who follows reliable research. The sexual orientation of the parents has little to no effect on their ability to parent. The most important thing is how prepared, loving and supportive the parents are.