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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2003)
adoptive parents in 1997 and began processing the paperwork to adopt as a single parent. Almost immediately, Hartman was being con sidered its an adoptive parent for a 5-month-old hoy. “ I didn’t get the child," she says. “ A case worker for Catholic Charities thought the child would he better off with another family. I felt like I’d had a miscarriage. 1 thought: ‘ I see how this gix's. W h o knows if I’ll ever get a child.’ ’’ But just a few months later, she did. Her social worker showed her a picture o f a 12-month-old girl named Rosie. Hartman fell in love and immediately began the adoption prexess. Though Rosie was considered a “ legal risk” adoption because her birth parents had not terminated their parental rights, Hartman was willing to proceed. She became Rosie’s fos ter parent in 1997 and adopted her in 1998. A ll in all, Hartman says it wasn’t difficult to adopt through the state. Oregon “ is actively working to make adoption easier for gay and lesbian parents.” Like Hartman, Portland partners Steve Wagenhoffer, 42, and M itch Zahn, 44, also opted for public adoption. “ It was a decision we came to really quickly and clearly," says Zahn. “ W e felt like we could he more open about being gay parents in public adoption.” In the beginning Wagenhoffer and Zahn were presented with several children, including biracial A report released last month by N ew York’s Adoption Institute indicates things are getting better. About 60 percent o f adoption agencies now accept applications from gays and lesbians, and almost 40 percent have placed children with gay and lesbian adoptive parents. Martin applied as a single parent, while Bond had to wait several months until the Illinois court began granting second-parent adoptions before she could legally adopt the children. Cosily considerations Dealing with discrimination ond and Martin also faced homophobia dur- J L ing the processing (if their son’s adoption. They had relocated to Portland and were required to work with agencies in both states to process the adop tion. Searching for an agency in Illinois to handle the interstate adoption, Rond says, “ W hen agencies found out we were two women adopting, we were shut down.” Eventually they located an agency willing to process the interstate adoption, hut Bond says, “ In order tor the agency to work with a lesbian couple, we Bonnie Tinker, executive director o f Love Makes a Family, got taken advantage of.” chose to become a parent through artificial insemination Martin explains, “T h e agency with a known donor made us pay the fee for an entire agencies with religious bents that won’t work adoption, when all they had to do was process with same-sex couples and birth mothers who two pieces o f paper." won’t consider same-sex couples as adoptive Adoption attorney Sandy Hcxlgson admits parents,” says Hodgson, who facilitates private that same-sex couples can face roadblocks dur adoptions in her Northeast Portland law firm, ing the adoption process, especially when Bouneff and Chally. adopting internationally. “There are adoption 'Remember wfien music was fun? ith the cast o f private adoptions running upward o f $15,000, lack o f funds can he a significant road- bkxk for many couples. Rut in Oregon cost dex’sn’t have to he a defining factor: A d op t ing through the state o f Oregon is free. “ W e don’t want any child to grow up with out a permanent, loving home simply because a family believes it cannot afford to adopt a child,” says Marilyn McManus, adoptions social worker for the Oregon Depart ment o f Human Services. “ People don’t need to have substantial assets or savings to adopt, hut we would certainly like them to he more than a few paychecks away from disaster.” Eight years ago, Portlander Cherry Hartman decided she was ready to fulfill her longtime dream o f becoming a mother. “ I had wanted to adopt for a long time hut was never in the right relationship or the right place in my career,” the 56-year-old says. She attended an orienta tion session hosted by the state for prospective W “Every adult has the right to choose, create and structure their families. 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