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Virginia Court Affirms Vermont's Jurisdiction in Same-Sex Couple's Interstate Custody Dispute (08/22/2008)
Frederick County, VA – A state circuit court judge has rejected yet another attempt to overturn a Vermont custody order giving child visitation rights to a lesbian parent from a now-dissolved civil union.

Virginia Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Same-Sex Couple's Interstate Custody Dispute (04/17/2008)
Richmond, VA - The Virginia Supreme Court this morning heard arguments in a long-running custody dispute over a child born during the Vermont civil union of two women. The Lambda Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU of Virginia, and Equality Virginia represented Janet Miller-Jenkins, the non-biological mother, who has asked Virginia to honor a Vermont court's ruling, which awarded her visitation rights after the civil union was dissolved.

Georgia Appeals Court Overturns Contempt Conviction of Lesbian Mother (03/24/2008)
ATLANTA - A long nightmare has ended for Elizabeth Hadaway, who was convicted of criminal contempt of court last year for not handing her daughter over to foster care after she lost custody solely because she's a lesbian. A year and one day after a county court judge sentenced Hadaway to 10 days in jail, the Georgia Court of Appeals today overturned her contempt conviction. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented her in the appeal and secured the little girl's return home from foster care last May, applauded the court's decision.

ACLU Asks Georgia Appeals Court to Dismiss Jail Sentence for Lesbian Mother (09/19/2007)
ATLANTA -- The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss a county judge's contempt order and jail sentence against a lesbian mother. Earlier this year, Wilkinson County Judge John Lee Parrott ordered that the child Elizabeth Hadaway hopes to adopt be taken away for three months because Hadaway is a lesbian, and now Hadaway is battling an order from the same judge that she spend as many as ten days in jail.

ACLU Secures Return of Seven-Year-Old to Lesbian Mother in Georgia (05/21/2007)
ATLANTA – After almost three months, a seven-year-old girl has been reunited with the woman in whose care she’d thrived for almost a year before being sent to live in a crowded foster home. The child had been held in foster care by the Wilkinson County Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) since February 20, when a judge took her away from her home after he learned that she was being raised by a lesbian.

ACLU Asks Georgia Judge to Return Seven-Year-Old to Lesbian Mother (05/02/2007)
ATLANTA – In a hearing today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged Wilkinson County Superior Court to return a vulnerable seven-year-old girl to the woman in whose care she had been thriving for a year. The county’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) has held the girl in foster care since February 20, when a judge took her away after he learned that she was being raised by a lesbian.

ACLU Applauds Defeat of Anti-Gay Adoption and Foster Care Bill; Calls Defeat a Tremendous Victory for Arkansas Children (03/27/2007)
LITTLE ROCK, AR - The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas cheered the decision of the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee today to reject SB 959, a bill that would have banned gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents.

ACLU of Arkansas Sets the Record Straight on Anti-Gay Adoption and Foster Care Bill Headed to Senate (03/12/2007)
LITTLE ROCK, AR – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas condemns the decision of an Arkansas Senate committee this morning to send to the floor SB 959, a bill that would ban gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents.

ACLU of Arkansas Decries Adoption and Foster Care Bill as Anti-Gay and Anti-Child (03/05/2007)
LITTLE ROCK, AR – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas today firmly denounced a bill introduced to the Arkansas State Legislature that would ban gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents. The bill was introduced today, just months after the state supreme court unanimously struck down a ban on fostering by gay people.

Updated Second Edition of ACLU Publication "Too High a Price" Details How Children are Hurt by Restrictions Against Parenting by Gay People (11/13/2006)
NEW YORK –The American Civil Liberties Union released an updated second edition of its publication "Too High a Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting," which compiles decades of social science research, the positions of the major child health and welfare organizations and government data to show how children are hurt by restrictions on parenting by lesbian and gay men.

Best Interests of Children Triumph Over Politics in Missouri (07/19/2006)
KANSAS CITY, MO -- The American Civil Liberties Union and PROMO, Missouri’s statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality organization, are very pleased with the new rule issued by the Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) allowing lesbian and gay people to be considered as foster parents. DSS has rightly put the interests of children ahead of politics. The foster care system is in crisis, with thousands of foster children languishing in institutional and group facilities due to a severe shortage in foster homes. The new rule is a victory for the nearly 2,000 foster children in Missouri.

Arkansas Supreme Court Unanimously Overturns Ban on Foster Parenting by Gay People (06/29/2006)
LITTLE ROCK, AR – In a unanimous decision cheered by child welfare advocates nationwide, the Arkansas Supreme Court today struck down a regulation that banned lesbian and gay people from serving as foster parents. The decision ends a seven-year legal battle by the American Civil Liberties Union.

ACLU Argues Challenge to Ban on Foster Parenting by Gay People Before Arkansas Supreme Court (06/15/2006)
LITTLE ROCK, AR – A seven-year legal battle over the blanket exclusion of lesbian and gay people from serving as foster parents in Arkansas drew closer to an outcome today as attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union asked the State Supreme Court to uphold an earlier court decision striking down the state’s anti-gay ban.

ACLU Reacts to Missouri Attorney General’s Statement Signaling End of Statewide Anti-Gay Foster Care Ban (06/08/2006)
KANSAS CITY, MO – Opening the possibility of loving families for the nearly 2,000 children in Missouri who desperately need foster care, the Missouri Attorney General has indicated that the state’s anti-gay foster care ban must be dropped. The move was applauded today by the American Civil Liberties Union, which has been battling the ban since 2004.

Missouri Judge Rules That Lesbian Can Be Foster Parent (02/17/2006)
KANSAS CITY, MO – A Jackson County Circuit Court judge today overturned a Missouri Department of Social Services decision denying a woman’s application to become a foster parent because she is a lesbian. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the applicant, Lisa Johnston, in challenging the denial, hailed the ruling as an important move towards increasing the pool of qualified foster parents for the nearly 2,000 children in Missouri who need foster homes.

ACLU Urges Arkansas Supreme Court to Uphold Ruling (12/19/2005)
LITTLE ROCK – Joined by an array of national child advocacy organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief today asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to uphold an earlier court decision striking down a state regulation that banned gay people and anyone living in a household with a gay adult from being foster parents in the state. The trial court had found that living with gay or lesbian parents doesn’t harm children.

ACLU, NCLR, and Lambda Legal Urge California Appeals Court to Affirm Decision Ending Unfairness Against Same-Sex Couples in Marriage (11/09/2005)
SAN FRANCISCO - The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Lambda Legal are filing a brief before a California appeals court today urging the court to affirm a lower court decision saying it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the ability to marry.

ACLU Argues Challenge to Missouri's Anti-Gay Foster Care Ban (11/03/2005)
KANSAS CITY, MO - The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a Jackson County Circuit Court judge to overturn the Missouri Department of Social Services decision that denied a woman's application to become a foster parent because she is a lesbian. The denial came in spite of an administrative judge's opinion that she was ""exceptionally"" qualified.

ACLU and NCLR Halt Legal Action After Promise from California Adoption Agency that It Won't Discriminate (10/05/2005)
LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union and the National Center for Lesbian Rights announced today that they would no longer pursue legal action against an Orange County-based adoption agency after the agency signed a binding agreement with the state that it would no longer discriminate against applicants based on sexual orientation.

ACLU Asks Missouri Judge to Let Lesbian Become Foster Parent (07/21/2005)
KANSAS CITY, MO -- The American Civil Liberties Union filed court papers today on behalf of a woman deemed ""exceptionally"" qualified to become a foster mother whose application was denied because she is a lesbian. The ACLU is asking the court to overturn an earlier administrative ruling upholding the denial.