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Proposed restrictions on adoption goes too far, Beebe says Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Beebe said Monday that a proposed ballot initiative to ban unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents goes too far. Last week, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel approved the conservative group Family Council's proposed initiative to prohibit a minor from being placed with an adoptive or foster parent in Arkansas who is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage recognized by the state. Beebe, who opposed a failed legislative proposal this year that also would have banned gays from adopting or foster parenting, said Monday he would prefer such matters be handled on a case-by-case basis with the best interest of the child in mind. "My stance has been that I think the (proposed) limitation as it applies to foster care is in today's society currently in the best interest of a child," the governor said at a Capitol news conference. "I think there's a totally different rule for adoptions. So, there is a part of the proposal that is consistent with what I've espoused and there's a part that is inconsistent with what I've espoused." Beebe said he saw "a distinction between the fragile nature of temporary foster parenting and what adoption really means, which is permanent." To get the initiated act on the November 2008 general election ballot, supporters must collect 61,974 valid signatures of registered voters - 8 percent of the number of votes in the last governor's election - by July 7, 2008. Beebe said he had no plans to campaign against the measure, should it get on the ballot. In this year's regular legislative session, lawmakers considered Senate Bill 959, filed in response to a 2006 state Supreme Court decision upholding a lower court ruling that struck down a state regulation banning gays from becoming foster parents. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox ruled in 2004 that in imposing the ban the state Child Welfare Review Board exceeded its authority granted by the Legislature. After the ruling, the state stopped asking prospective foster parents about their sexual orientation. The measure was approved by the Senate but failed in a House committee after the governor said it had constitutional problems. |
