UK children’s charity Barnardo’s is looking for more same-sex couples and individuals to adopt, its head of adoption has said.
Carolyn Oliver, head of adoption at the charity, says she wants to ensure homosexuals are aware of their adoption rights.
She told PinkNews.co.uk: “We’re looking for gay couples and individuals – many still don’t realise that they can adopt and are reluctant to come forward to find out more”, adding, “At Barnardo’s, we are very happy to welcome them as prospective parents”.
The Barnardo’s adoption chief claims that same-sex couples could be more suitable for children who have faced particular difficulties.
She suggests that perhaps “one of the strengths of gay and lesbian parents is that they often have experience of issues like discrimination and so can understand these kind of problems.”
She added “sometimes it’s preferable to place children in a single-sex household”.
The children’s charity was founded by a Christian, Thomas Barnardo, during the Victorian era. He witnessed destitute children sleeping on the streets of London and decided to devote his life to helping them.
Homosexual adoption was legalised in England and Wales in 2002 after the Westminster Government failed to acknowledge the recommendations of its Adoption Law Review that the law should not be changed.
In June, a Roman Catholic adoption agency which was founded in 1859 was forced to close its doors because of new equality laws forcing it to act against its religious ethos.
The London based Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster) said the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs) were to blame for the move.
A spokesman for the organisation said: “The trustees are convinced that what is best for children is that they be brought up by married couples. This is shown by research but it is also consonant with the teaching of the Church.”
He added: “It would be totally unacceptable for our Catholic agency to act in a way that is at odds with the teaching of the Church.”
The London agency followed the Catholic Children’s Rescue Society of Salford in pulling out of adoption services altogether.
Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe said: “Catholic adoption agencies place some of the most difficult children with new families. They could find people willing to take them and now those services will not be available… all for the sake of trying to enforce a political view.”
A Leeds based adoption agency, Catholic Care, is currently in a court battle after being told it must consider homosexual couples as potential adopters under the Sexual Orientation Regulations (SORs), despite its belief that children need a mother and a father.
