Because children are its future, who raises them is among society’s most important issues. Tradition claims those with homosexual desires are more apt to sexually molest children and are bad role models. As such, it has sought to keep homosexuals from adopting or fostering and exclude them from child supervision. The mental health associations have asserted that homosexuals are no more apt to molest children, and that gays are ‘normal’ since homosexuality is ‘healthy.’

In 1981, supported by the American Psychological Association and the National Association of Social Workers, David Frater became the first openly homosexual to adopt a child in the US. Since then, laws and regulations have been changed to allow homosexuals to foster or adopt. By 2015 perhaps 5% of new UK adoptions were by homosexual couples (Pink News 2/25/2015). As English-speaking countries have similar social welfare policies, and single homosexuals also adopt, currently as many as 6-8% of foster- and adoptive parents might be homosexual.

Governments have echoed mental health associations in claiming that nothing is wrong with LGBTs. But in 2022 the US Health and Human Services stated:

Overall, LGBTQI+ individuals report being in poorer health than non-LGBTQI+ individuals. LGBTQ+ individuals, moreover, are at increased risk for or are particularly affected by certain health conditions, including sexually transmitted infections, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), obesity, conditions associated with tobacco, alcohol, and other substance use, and mental health conditions, including suicidality. LGB people are more likely to acquire a disability at a younger age than heterosexual individuals. (HHS, April 2)

This HHS statement gives reasons we should avoid placing children with LGBTs, but HHS didn’t address the traditional claim that homosexuals are more apt to molest their foster- or adoptive charges. To test this claim, FRI searched Google News using ‘child sexual abuse’ as the search term and analyzed every US and UK story from 2012-2021 that included the sex of the perpetrator and sex of the victim (we did the same for sets of consecutive stories in Canada, Australia & New Zealand). We did not search for ‘stepparents,’ ‘foster-parents,’ etc., Google reported a sample of news stories that happened to include child sexual abuse – Google did the sampling and we did the grouping. Every story with ‘stepparent’ or ‘foster parent,’ etc. that included the sex of the perpetrator and victim(s) is in Table 1. As respondents don’t always tell the ‘whole truth and nothing but the truth,’ we can have more confidence in Table 1’s facts as editors’ efforts assured their news organizations couldn’t be sued for falsehood.

Table 1 summarizes those news stories that included biological-, step-, foster-, or adoptive parent molesters. Molestations were categorized as either Ho (homosexual and/or bisexual – those [few] who molested both sons and daughters were counted Ho) – or Ht (if only opposite-sex kids were molested). Thus, in Table 1’s first row, 18 biological fathers engaged in homosexuality with 49 of their children while 48 fathers molested 67 of their daughters. Likewise, 26 mothers molested 31 of their kids (often along with the father. If both molested a child, it was counted as 0.5 child for each parent [a 5.5 was rounded up to 6 in the Table to avoid ‘half a kid’]), and 7 molested 6 of their sons (often along with the father). The molester was usually the father (who most often targeted daughters), while the mothers’ tilt toward homosexuality – often due to joining the father in molesting one of their children – is evident. As with biological-mothers and stepmothers, the cases of foster- or adoptive-mother molestations tilted toward homosexuality (often because they joined their male partner in molesting a girl).

Homosexual perpetrators of all parental varieties tended to have more victims. While not in the Table, Google also found 11 (14%) of 81 US mother’s boyfriends (often cohabiting) who molested homosexually v the 6 (13%) of 47 US stepfathers.

In comparison to these Google findings, FRI questionnaired a national random sample of 4,340 adults in 1983 who were asked if, while under age 18, they had

had sex with various kinds of adults including parents, foster-parents, etc. One biological father was reported as having engaged in homosexuality and two biological fathers and two biological mothers to have engaged in heterosexuality with their children (one man claimed sex with both parents). Though divorce was less prevalent, respondents reported homosexual involvement with a step-father and 2 step-mothers; heterosexuality with 4 step-mothers and 18 step-fathers. While 4 claimed sex with a biological parent, 25 reported sex with a step-parent. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many had stepparents, but the rate of incest with stepparents must have been much higher since about 4 of 5 children lived with both parents before 1970. Sex was also reported with 67 siblings and 15 stepsiblings. One woman reported sex with a foster father.[1]

Results of Pro-Homosexual Policy Regarding Foster/Adoptive Parents

For the past half-century, mental health associations have claimed homosexuals were ‘just as good parents.’ Consequentially, regulations and the meaning of ‘marriage’ have been transformed to allow LGBTs to foster and adopt children.

Allowing homosexuals to foster and adopt children has been associated with an increase in the proportion of homosexual molestations by foster- and adoptive parents.[2] Google’s evidence from 2012-2021 in Table 1 is clear: homosexuality, while present in US biological and stepparent families, loomed especially large for foster- and adoptive parents. Indeed, homosexuals accounted for 23 (49%) of Google’s 47 US foster fathers and 15 (48%) of its 31 US adoptive father perpetrators. While most victims of US molestations by foster and/or adoptive fathers from 1980-1994 were girls,[2] most of the recent victims of foster- or adoptive-parent sexual predations from 2012-2021 were boys.

As I reported before on RenewAmerica regarding clergy molestations, those with homosexual desires did ‘more than their share’ of molesting child charges. Barring those with homosexual tastes from fostering or adopting children should reduce the proportion of homosexually inclined foster- and adoptive- parents. Since homosexuals accounted for 145 (68%) of the 212 US foster- and adoptive-father victims and 5 (63%) of the 8 US foster- and adoptive-mother victims, while sexual molestation of children cannot be eliminated, we could at least lower it by forbidding homosexuals from fostering or adopting.

[1] Cameron P, et.al. Child molestation and homosexuality. Psychological Reports, 1986,58,327-333.

[2] Cameron P. Are over a third of foster parent molestations homosexual? Psychological Reports 2005,96,275-298