By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

After years of fighting from the LGBT community, Florida’s 3rd Court of Appeals ruled that banning gays and lesbians from adopting children is unconstitutional. Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who had at one point been in favor of the ban, has already said that he will support the court’s decision because he had a change of heart about the ban when he became an Independent candidate running for the state’s open seat in the United State’s Senate.

So what now happens to the 19,229 children that are currently in foster care according to the latest available data from the Florida Department of Children & Families?

Well it’s not so simple. The state still has 30 days to decide if they want to appeal the ruling, which means that, for the time being, gays and lesbians can not walk into an adoption agency and ask for a cute little bundle of joy just yet.

“If the State chooses not to appeal, the appellate court decision will be binding on trial courts statewide and will allow lesbians and gay men who are interested in adopting — no matter where they live in the State — to apply and be evaluated under the same criteria applied to everyone else,” said Leslie Cooper, senior attorney with the national ACLU’s LGBT Project. “This is precisely what our litigation has sought to achieve. If the State chooses not to appeal, justice will have been served. We are hopeful that the case will end here.”

Of course it’s not like gays and lesbians haven’t already been exposed to the Florida Department of Children & Families since the ban went into effect in the late 1970’s. Gays and Lesbians have always been allowed to be foster parents and guardians to kids, which is essentially the same thing without permanency.

“It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on those same persons,” wrote Judge Gerald Cope as part of the courts decision. “All other persons are eligible to be considered case-by-case to be adoptive parents.”

The lifting of the ban should help Florida Department of Children & Families meet one of their long-standing goals.

“The goal of the Florida Department of Children and Families is to safely reduce the number of children in foster care by 50 percent by 2012, so fewer children will experience the instability and emotional trauma of living in foster care or will Are There 19,229 Gay s and Lesbians in Florida Who Want to Adopt Kids? spend long periods in foster care,” according to the Florida Department of Children & Families website.

So let’s say that Gov. Crist keeps his newly decided opinion and decides not to appeal the court’s decision and you and your partner (or you alone) decide you would like to adopt a child, what is the process? Follow these not-so-simple steps:

• Orientation: The first step in some areas is an orientation meeting for prospective adoptive parents. At this meeting the prospective parents may meet experienced adoptive or foster parents and one or more counselors who will provide an overview of the whole process, time frames involved and the training schedule

• Preparation Course or MAPP: The Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting (MAPP) is a ten-week training and preparation course that adoptive parents are required to successfully complete. These training sessions are usually scheduled at night or on the weekends. The purpose of the training is twofold— for parents to assess themselves and their family and to explore and learn about adoption issues.

• Home study: A home study includes the following parts:

1. You will be required to provide information about your health.

2. Background checks at the local, state and federal level will be conducted, including having your fingerprints screened at the federal level.

3. References will be requested from your employer, school officials if you have children in school and character references from individuals who have known you and your family.

4. The counselor will visit your home one or more times to complete the home study. If you have children, it will be important for the counselor to ask them a few questions about what they think about adoption. Some of the topics that will be discussed with you and your spouse, if you have one, are:

• Why do you want to adopt?
• Describe your childhood.
• What are the strengths of your marriage?
• How do you think a new child in your home will alter your lifestyle?
• Describe your financial situation.
• Describe your parenting style/ philosophy.

• Approval: All of the information is gathered into a home study packet and sent for approval to an adoption specialist. When your application has been approved, you will be notified.

• After approval: You may continue to look at the available children on the Florida Department of Children & Families website and attend recruitment activities, especially the picnics or events when foster children who are available for adoption are in attendance. Notify your counselor when you are interested and need more information about a certain child or sibling group.

• Match: When the needs of a child or sibling group are matched with your family, your adoption counselor will discuss with you the pre-placement activities that must occur. The official placement in your home will occur when you, the child and the counselor determine that the child is ready.

• Placement supervision: After a child is placed, a counselor must make monthly visits in order to assess the child’s adjustment and if new or additional services are needed. The supervision period ends when the counselor provides “consents to adoption” to your attorney.

• Finalization: Your attorney will schedule a hearing before a judge. At this hearing the adoption will be legalized and the child will legally become part of your family. For more information visit: http://www.dcf.state.fl.us