Publisher’s Perspective: Family on hold

It sounds like the impossibly dark premise for a Twilight Zone episode or Stephen King short story: every week at the exact same time, caring parents must submit to the decision of a tribunal with power to remove their children permanently. As loving bonds grow, shared experiences are tinged with the heartbreaking realization that the family may soon cease to exist.

But such is the case for Martin Gill, his partner, and the two infant brothers they took into their North Miami home as foster parents after pleading by the State of Florida. They became a family, closer than most, and when Gill sought to adopt the boys in 2008 a Miami-Dade Circuit judge made it legal. But the state then appealed, arguing last summer that the boys should be removed from the home because Florida bans adoption by gays and lesbians.

Since then Gill has logged onto the 3rd District Court of Appeals web site every Wednesday morning between 10:30 and 10:45, when rulings are routinely released, to see if he still has a family.

Florida passed its sweeping ban on adoption by gay people more than 30 years ago, while orange juice queen Anita Bryant was spreading propaganda that gays and lesbians recruit children to replenish their ranks. Amazingly, and despite decades of raised consciousness, the ban still exists. Appallingly, there is no chance that it will be repealed by the Republican controlled state legislature any time soon.

At any given time there are thousands of children awaiting permanent placement in stable Florida homes. The state allows gays and lesbians to serve as foster parents for the most challenging minors in their custody. And the Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) admits that the blanket exclusion of gay people from adopting does not promote the best interest of the state’s children.

Offensively, the adoption ban means that children who have lost their parents could be placed with strangers rather than with close, loving family members who happen to be gay. And it means that gays and lesbians are unable to adopt their partners’ children, thus depriving them of the financial, legal and emotional stability that comes with having two legally recognized parents.

Gill and his partner were introduced to the boys they want to adopt in 2004, just before Christmas. They had fostered more than a half dozen children before, and this was an emergency placement at the request of DCF. The siblings had been virtually on their own in a household of drug addicts. Both were bone thin, hostile, unresponsive, and had ringworm. The six-year-old was the primary caregiver for his two-year-old little brother.

With patience and love, the boys are now thriving. They call Gill “Poppy” and their other father “Daddy.” They have also bonded with the couple’s extended family, which includes two doting grandmothers.

When the state sought to remove them for permanent placement, and likely split them up in the process, Gill sought legal counsel. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had been scouting around for a suitable plaintiff to test the constitutionality of Florida’s adoption ban and accepted the case. They assembled a crack legal team and introduced mountains of scientific evidence to demonstrate that there was no “rational basis” for the ban. The trial lasted a week, and when it was over Circuit Judge Cindy Ledermen issued a 53-page opinion rejecting the state’s assertions that there is a “supposed dark cloud hovering over the homes of homosexuals and their children.”

“It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person’s ability to parent,” Judge Ledermen wrote in her 53-page opinion. “A child in need of love, safety and stability does not first consider the sexual orientation of his parent.”

According to ACLU attorney Rob Rosenwald, “That victory was the best day of my life.” But it was short-lived. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum appealed the next day, and oral argument was held Aug. 29. The decision is pending. Both sides have vowed to appeal an unfavorable ruling to the Supreme Court of Florida.

The state placed the boys with Gill and his partner because of their unique qualifications as foster parents, and it has now spent more than a half million dollars to remove them for no circumventing reason. The irony has not been lost. According to Rosenwald, state staffers avert their eyes in court. When an appellate judge asked what would become of the children if the state prevailed, a state’s attorney looked down before mumbling that they would get “new parents.” The audience gasped.

Both Gill and Rosenwald were in Orlando recently to participate in an Adoption Training Workshop that moves to Tampa Bay in May and July. They know that a favorable ruling will likely create a backlash, and they want skilled advocates ready.

“If you win at the ballot or in the courts but not in the hearts and minds of the people, you lose,” Rosenwald said.

Find out more about Adoption Training.

In the meantime, join Martin Gill every Wednesday morning between 10:30 and 10:45. Something tells me he’ll know you’re there with him.