HRC Blog

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.