“We just appreciate people that step up”
They got the call on New Year’s Eve, with only a handful of hours left in 2015. The car, which was making its way through Oklahoma’s country roads at the time, erupted in cheers and tears. The adoption had gone through.
A year and a half later, Vince Montez still tears up when recounting the story. He is sitting on the right side of the couch in his home near Fort Logan, while his husband, Quentin, sits on the other side, their two kids nestled between them.
“All you could hear in the car was screaming and yelling,” Vince recalls. “Everyone was so happy.”
Vince and Quentin Montez are one of the 1,915 certified foster homes in Colorado. They’re also one of the many LGBTQ foster families. Despite making up 4 percent of the state’s population, LGBTQ families comprise 12 percent of the state’s foster parents, according to an online survey by the Colorado Department of Human Services.
And although LGBTQ families are overrepresented, national research shows that LGBTQ kids are also overrepresented in the system. A state representative said LGBTQ youths often want to be placed with a queer family because they tend to feel freer to express themselves and more supported in an accepting environment.
When including their time fostering, 11year-old Marcus and 5-year-old Auriah have been with the Montez family for three years. And, boy, have they grown.
When Marcus and Auriah first came for an emergency stay, Marcus would run and hide under the table every time someone
came to the door. But on Thursday, he was sitting between his dads, excited to go to the Rockies game that night.
Vince always wanted kids, but it took Quentin longer to come around. They initially planned to adopt only one child. Now the family is in the process of adopting another pair of siblings — bringing the kid count to four. Quentin said he has learned to never say never when it came to kids.
“If I had my way, we would have as many as we could handle,” Vince said. “Just make this life better for these children.”
The conversation around LGBTQ families as adoptive and foster homes recently resurfaced in the national debate when Texas lawmakers passed a bill allowing child placement agencies that receive taxpayer money to deny adoption and fostering to certain groups based on religious objections. The bill, which sits on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, will become law Sunday if he decides not to veto it.
“I believe that whole mind-set is a misunderstanding,” Quentin said. “Mostly people who have not been around it, not around us as gay people.”
But Quentin said the couple has not had issues in Colorado, which has never had laws prohibiting LGBTQ couples from adopting. In fact, the state makes concerted efforts to recruit LGBTQ families.
The department of human services and other county agencies will be recruiting families at PrideFest this weekend. They’ve been doing so since 2011. Jason Lester, ongoing services unit manager with the department, described PrideFest as “the premiere event” for recruiting, saying agencies witness an uptick in informational meetings afterward.
“All we need is for people that have it in their heart to provide a home away from home, we need those folks to stand up,” Lester said. “If one identifies as LGBTQ or if one does not identify as LGBTQ , it does not matter. They are viewed as the same. We just appreciate people that step up to care for the kids that need foster care or adoption.”
There are 297 kids in the foster system who are still waiting to be adopted. The average age of a kid is 11.
Lester said the state doesn’t discriminate against single, married, house-owning, renting, old or young people when looking for foster and adoptive parents.
There are minimal costs to adopting, although Quentin warned that families need to be patient. The first step is to attend an informational session with a county department or childplacement agency, which will walk potential parents through the process.
“The 297 kids waiting to be adopted, they deserve to have a family that will share Thanksgiving with them, that will share Christmas with them, that will wake them up and say, ‘Happy birthday,’ ” Lester said. “They deserve to have a natural family setting.”