HRC Blog

What a fantastic few days we’ve had here in the Kansas City area. We started off by welcoming students back to school at KU and UMKC, held a presentation and networking reception for LGBT and Allied Professionals, presented on HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index at KU Med Center, held a benefit for the LIKE ME Lighthouse at Missie B’s and today we’re at the Kansas City Public Library navigating the murky waters of LGBT adoptions.

This weekend the HRC Foundation’s “All Children – All Families” (ACAF) initiative will be honored by the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) for its work in expanding the pool of highly qualified families for children in need of a loving and forever home. ACAF will receive the Corporate Award for Special Achievement in Adoption at NACAC’s 37th Annual conference in Denver this Saturday. This marks the first time NACAC has awarded an LGBT-specific organization or program for work in the child welfare field.

Viewers of hit USA Network shows such as Burn Notice and Royal Pains are already familiar with the network’s public service campaign, Characters Unite, which seeks to combat intolerance and discrimination and promote respect for all people. Actors on network shows have filmed a dozen PSAs, on everything from hate crimes to religious intolerance.

The HRC Foundation, the educational arm of HRC, announced yesterday that Hands Across The Water became the first adoption agency in Michigan to earn the All Children—All Families seal of recognition. The Ann Arbor adoption agency earned the honor by meeting the required criteria for fully inclusive policies and practices in working with the LGBT community. HRC’s All Children—All Families initiative provides a comprehensive framework for agencies to establish policies and practices that welcome, support and affirm LGBT foster and adoptive parents. The seal was presented to Kathleen Nelson, LMSW, the Executive Director of Hands Across the Water, for her leadership in establishing a truly welcoming, supportive agency for all families.

Today, Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) reintroduced the Every Child Deserves A Family Act, H.R. 1681, legislation that would remove barriers to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people providing loving homes to children in our foster care system. This bill also addresses the need to find loving homes for the disproportionate number of LGBT youth in foster care. It does so by banning discrimination in adoption or foster care placement based on the sexual orientation, marital status or gender identity of the potential parent, or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the child.