Subjects:
Adolescent Health/Medicine
Topics:
adoption, female homosexuality, homosexuality, gay parents

Pediatricians should support the legal adoption of children by co-parents or second parents because it provides permanency and stability to children of gay and lesbian parents, according to a new AAP policy statement from the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health (COPACFH) (

Pediatrics. 2002;109:339-340
).

“The Academy’s supporting the right of children to have two legally empowered parents was an important statement,” said Ellen Perrin, M.D., FAAP, former COPACFH member, who authored an accompanying AAP technical report on the topic (

Pediatrics. 2002;109:341-344
). “Courts need expert opinion to support requests for second parent adoption, and a policy statement from the Academy gives parents and the courts something to rely on.”

According to Dr. Perrin, a gay man who adopts or a lesbian woman who adopts or gives birth to a child is...

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