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Beebe will not support proposed restriction on adoptions Saturday, Oct 13, 2007 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday he would not vote for a proposed ballot initiative to ban unmarried couples from adopting or becoming foster parents if it makes it on the 2008 general election ballot. "Adoptions by their very nature take a lengthier period of time before they can be finalized. That's not the case with foster care," Beebe told a caller during his monthly radio show call-in program. "That's why I'm against this initiated act. My feeling is what ought to be in the best interest of the child," the governor said. "That should be the basis upon which decisions are made." Earlier this month, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel approved the popular name and ballot title of 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. 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. Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council, said Friday he expects his group to gather the necessary signatures. "The governor, like everyone else, is entitled to his opinion and he is entitled to one vote on this measure," Cox said. "Fortunately, the governor won't be the one who decides this issue. The voters of Arkansas will. "It certainly doesn't do us any good, but I don't believe his opposition will make any difference in the final outcome," Cox said. "We believe the majority of people in Arkansas believe children shouldn't be placed in cohabiting homes." Beebe, who opposed a measure that failed during this year's legislative session that would have banned gays from adopting or being foster parents, said Friday he would rather have such issues handled on a case-by-case basis with the best interest of the child in mind. "When it comes to adoptions, you are dealing with the judge and you are dealing with the court and they are charged with the responsibility of understanding that," he said. "It's decided by a judge with the test being what is in the best interest of that child." Foster care "is a little different situation," the governor said. "You are dealing with fragile youngsters, who in many instances have been moved from family to family and more often than not there's not a court supervisor, it's bureaucrats and it's agency folks making some of those decisions." Cox said petitions for signature collection will be sent to supporters around the state later this fall, but because of the upcoming holidays, actual kickoff of the signature collection campaign probably will not start until early next year. He said he doubted the campaign would cost any more than the $80,000 spent to get the anti-gay marriage amendment on the 2004 ballot. Supporters collected more than 200,000 signatures for that amendment, which Arkansans overwhelmingly approved. Cox said he does not expect that many signatures to be collected for the foster parent initiated act. |
