Resolved: The US Federal government should legalize same - sex adoption

Framework We need to see that under the status quo that benefits to the people should be the metric in today’s debate for the judges. If I can prove that homosexuals adopting is a net benefit to people, then the judge should vote on the affirmation. Contention 1: Lack of people adopting In the status quo, there are not many people adopting children within the foster-care system. According to Child Welfare, over the period from 2008 to 2012 (2), nationally the rate of adoption decreased. All the while, the amount of children in the foster care system increases. According to ABC News in 2006 (1), the amount of infants in the foster-care system increases by 40,000 every year. Why does this matter? Well, according to the Washington Post in 2007: “In nearly every state, the cost of providing basic care for a foster child exceeds the government's foster-care reimbursement rate, according to national research released last week (3).” What is shown is the fact that when looking at the status quo, child care is not funded as well in the foster-care system, which results in services being not as effective. What this leads to are children not given the proper care which results in criminal activity and dropping out of school. If we were to look at the Christian Science Monitor in 2010, we can see that out of hundreds of foster-care children surveyed, 60% ended up convicted of a crime, all the while only 6% had any college degree (4). This problem is easily shown, because without support from future parents, the result is putting children in an ineffective system that usually results in conviction of a crime and low educational success, which needs to be prioritized in today’s debate. Thus, the quicker the foster-care children leave the system, the more likely these effects will not take place. What can be easily seen is that by allowing same sex couples to adopt, we would see that less children would be in the broken foster-care system and more in homes where they can grow with support from potential parents. In fact, we can see that rates of same-sex couples adopting has gone up. According to the Williams Institute, we see the following: ‘In 2000, the Census reported about 63,000 (same-sex) couples raising children. Today, the figure is now more than 110,000 (5).” With this, we can see that getting rid of the current state barriers to same-sex adoption, we would be increasing this number exponentially. Keeping in mind that this figure has grown this much despite state barriers is truly amazing. The Washington Times in 2011 outlines the three barriers in three points (6). • Many government safety-net programs use definitions of family tied to marital status, which may exclude same-sex partners. • Because of lack of legal recognition for their unions, gay and lesbian parents can face heavier tax burdens, higher costs for health insurance, and diminished financial protections in the event of death or disability. • When same-sex parents separate, one parent may lose custody or visitation rights, even in cases where he or she had been a child’s primary caregiver. With this in mind, we can see empirically that removing opposition to same-sex couples adopting, the result would be an obvious raise in adoption. Contention 2: Alternative just as effective My opponent will obviously bring up the common point made that some people think that same-sex couples are not going to be as effective parents as heterosexual couples. This premise is false. According to a psychologist in Clark University by the name of Abbi Goldberg, gay parents tend to be more motivated and more committed due to the fact that they simply do not have the same rate of accidental children as heterosexual parents (7). Not only this, but the Boston University cites a study following lesbian parents and found that the majority of children in the family had high social, and educational success (8). This is quantified by Simon Crouch, a lead investigator on the subject of same-sex adoption shows in his study in the BMC public health journal shows that children from same-sex couples were 6% higher on general health and family cohesion (9). My opponent will also bring up social stigma as well when related to same sex adoption. However, when we turn towards a report of the National Academy of Pediatrics, children of same-sex couples are more resilient to social stigma (9). Contention 3: Cost The amount spent on the foster care system is huge. According to ABC News in 2006, we can clearly see that taxpayers pay $40,000 dollars per child in foster care, resulting in $22 billion spent on the system (10). With same-sex adoption, we see an obvious decrease in spending that means more taxpayer funding for other important projects such as public infrastructure and other important issues related to the American people’s need. This is because we would be seeing less of a need for funding foster-care systems because there is less need of funding with less children in the systems. Contention 4: Constitution According to the 14th amendment, all people should be treated equally under the law (11). With this in mind, if we were to allow for one group to adopt, by the 14th amendment it is an obligation that others are considered equal under the law as well. By not affirming, we are setting a dangerous precedent that allows for violation of the constitution to occur, specifically the 14th amendment which provides due process under law for all citizens, which could lead to potential harms to citizens in the future with unfair laws. In other words, we are reaching an obligation of constitutionality by affirming. Conclusion We need to see that under the status quo, there is a net benefit to affirming this resolution to the people due to helping everyone who lives under the constitution, including the people in the foster care system. Thus, I urge an affirmative vote. Sources 1. (http://tinyurl.com...) 2. (https://www.childwelfare.gov... C: Total adoptions for selected years, 2001–2012) 3. (http://tinyurl.com...) 4. (http://tinyurl.com...) 5. (http://tinyurl.com...) 6. (http://tinyurl.com...) 7. (http://tinyurl.com...) 8. (http://tinyurl.com...) 9. (http://tinyurl.com...) 10. (http://tinyurl.com...) 11. (http://tinyurl.com...)