Adoption option

In a recent Oklahoman editorial and a Point of View by Hance Dilbeck and Rev. Paul Coakley, the view has been expressed that Senate Bill 1140, which would allow private adoption agencies to discriminate against prospective adoptive families for religious reasons and still receive taxpayer dollars, is necessary to ensure plenty of entities are available to facilitate adoption. The argument is made that this is similar to cases of private businesses having their freedom of association restricted by being forced to provide their services to unwanted customers. The difference is that the baker coerced to make a cake against their will is not a recipient of taxpayer funds. Adoption providers that receive public money should be required to strictly adhere to equality before the law in the same manner as any other part of government, and if that is unacceptable then those agencies can choose to forgo government funds.

Amending SB 1140 to ensure these agencies may participate in all other respects without receiving taxpayer support might be a reasonable compromise to allow religious entities to promote adoption and still adhere to their religious precepts. As an adoptive parent, it is certainly important to me that children who need a family have opportunities to be placed. However, the path to more adoptions is not through empowering publicly funded discrimination against potential adoptive families but instead through encouraging more qualified families of all kinds to take a child into their home.

Chris Powell, Bethany