Hello my IL friends. My first trek into this board and I find this thread. It's destiny!
Illinois does not have any statutory law that explicitly allows or prohibits adoption by same-sex couples. Thanks to a circuit court judge in Cook County, we do have cases that ALLOW such adoptions.
Here's the sad part, there is no reason for Illinois to pursue a statutory ban on gay adoption. Because the child welfare system is privatized, the state can let different agencies do the dirty work. Not all agencies would do this sort of thing, but if the current road that Catholic Charities is heading down is any indication, we may be in big trouble. The latest placement statistics that I've seen have Catholic Charities servicing more family cases than the Dept. of Children and Family Services. If CC begins to deny placement and licensing to homosexual couples... you can see where this is going, right?
It's also interesting to hear people's perceptions of FL and IL and how the two states treat same-sex couples. Consider this:
-Illinois was the first state to explicitly ban same-sex marriage
-Florida has recognized the parental rights of a transgendered individual to his children, while Illinois (in an almost identical factual scenario) has decided that it is better to deny the transgendered man his son
The United States is at war with its children. We have one of the worst infant mortality rates among industrialized nations. Maternity and paternity leave is a joke. (BTW- the people who work to represent abused and neglected children in court, have no paid parental leave-- ironic?) Until a few years ago, it was legal for schools in the majority of states to paddle a child, regardless of the parent's wishes. We're ready to put a 14 year old in juvenile hall for petty theft because we understand that, as a child, she didn't know any better. If, however, that same girl kills her abusive mother, we will try her as an adult, lock her up, and throw away the key.
But allow a gay man or woman to foster or adopt a neglected or abused child? THAT would turn society on its ear.
