Arizona governor overturns policy blocking gay adoptions
Doug Ducey reverses Dept. of Child Safety policy discriminating against qualified same-sex couples
“With 17,000 children under the state’s care, we need more adoption in Arizona, not less. That is why I feel strongly, as I had said many times before, that all loving families should be able to serve as foster parents and adopt.”
— Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), in a statement reported by the Arizona Daily Star regarding his decision to issue an order to overturn a policy of the state’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) that prohibited same-sex couples from being certified as prospective adoptive or foster parents. Unbeknownst to Ducey, the former head of DCS had made the change after Arizona’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was struck down last October after being advised by current Attorney General Mark Brnovich that the legalization of same-sex marriage did not reverse other statutes that specifically restrict joint adoption to a “husband and wife” or “a married man and woman.”
In his statement, Ducey said his administration is “unambiguously and unapologetically pro-adoption” and that the policy remaining in place is unacceptable. Ducey previously defended the rights of prospective parents when he vetoed legislation earlier this month that would have allowed county attorneys to refuse to assist with adoptions by same-sex couples.
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