Articles - Foster Care

Her goal was to help lesbian girls in foster care and provide a safe place to nurture them. In the past nine years, Mary Keane has helped 18 children and young adults (gay, lesbian and straight). Kids who were not doing well in foster homes, group homes or treatment centers have been offered a calm consistent home in Yonkers, New York.

The Miami Herald profiles a young man who found himself in the foster care system when he was about 13-years-old after his mother rejected him because he is gay. He experienced several dozen foster care facilities in which adults couldn't relate to him and other children could be brutal.

By the time the boy found a gay foster parent in Fort Lauderdale, he was a 17-year-old dropout addicted to drugs. He credits his foster father with turning his life around and taking him to Narcotics Anonymous.

Many gay foster teenagers never find a good home.

The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that a lesbian couple should have custody of an 18-month old foster child, overturning a judge's order that the girl should be placed with a heterosexual couple who might adopt her.

The court barred enforcing and earlier ruling by Judge Paul Blake Jr. - which said that the girl should be taken away from Kathryn Kutil and Cheryl Hess. The girl has remained in the couple's custody throughout the court proceedings.

Earlier this year, the Bay Area Reporter announced an adoption agency's campaign to place gay and lesbian foster youth in permanent homes. An Oakland-based agency called Family Builders by Adoption has been committed to placing kids with families since 1976. It focuses on children who have a tougher time in the foster system, such as LGBT children, those with special needs, and children who have been exposed to drugs or alcohol.