The Arkansas Department of Human Services has instructed its staff to accept applications from unmarried couples who had previously been banned from serving as foster or adoptive parents.
Last week, a Pulaski County circuit judge struck down the state’s law banning unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children. Judge Chris Piazza said in a two-page ruling that people in “non-marital relationships’’ are forced to choose between becoming an adoptive parent and sustaining that relationship.
“Due process and equal protection are not hollow words without substance,’’ Piazza said. “They are rights enumerated in our constitution that must not be construed in such a way as to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people.”
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said that the state will appeal the judge’s ruling to the Arkansas Supreme Court. He noted that 57 percent of voters approved the ban in the November 2008 election.
The law effectively banned gays and lesbians who lived together from adopting or fostering children because they are unable to legally marry in Arkansas. Florida remains the only state that explicitly bans gay adoptions.
