WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Bill Would Prevent Unmarried Couples from Adopting

Bill Would Prevent Unmarried Couples from Adopting

By Jon Kalahar
jkalahar@wlbt.net

Attempting to close a hole in the law that might have allowed homosexual couples to adopt a child in Mississippi, Senate Bill 27-66 says unmarried couples living together are also disallowed from adopting.

But many wonder if this is a way to keep single individuals from adopting a child here in the state.

We spoke with state representatives who now must determine if the bill should become law.

Mississippi's Department of Human Services currently has 533 children in its custody eligible for adoption. Right now the only guidelines for a person or persons to be eligible to adopt are straightforward: You must be single or married for at least two years, 21 years of age, and have sufficient income and insurance to care for the child.

But a bill passed through the state senate says unmarried adults cohabitating outside of marriage with one or more sexual partners may not adopt. Representative Phillip Gunn authored a similar bill in the House, but it died in committee.

"We're talking about taking a child and putting them into an environment where they are taught habits and exposed to lifestyles that are clearly detrimental to the child," said Gunn.

But Gunn doesn't want to keep single individuals from adopting.

"Obviously there are a lot of single people out there with a lot of love to give an adoptive child and we certainly don't want to prohibit that and that is not a bad way to raise a child," said Gunn.

The original intent of senate bill 27-66 was to prevent homosexual couples from adopting. But Representative Greg Snowden say lawmakers need to be careful.

"We want to be careful not to be overly broad, but clearly we don't need to encourage or allow in my opinion homosexual couples to adopt in Mississippi," said Snowden.

Snowden say the best interest of the children should be first and foremost.

"Clearly for most children the best thing for the child would be to be a part of a home. I don't think we need to just necessarily say a single person's not eligible to adopt," said Snowden.

In fiscal year 2007, 277 children were adopted from the Department of Human Services.  That's the highest number of adoptions for DHS in the last five years.