“Anti-religious rhetoric” is putting off many couples from adopting, with “tragic consequences” according to Jemima Thackray in The Telegraph.
Religion
She refers to a recent survey conducted by the First4Adoption campaign which found that more than half (55 per cent) of people who said they were “certain” or “very likely” to adopt a child were “actively practicing a religion”.
The campaign reported that many of the 55 per cent are being deterred from adopting due to “myths about who can adopt” and that “many religiously-active people are held back from adopting because they often wrongly believe their faith will prevent them being approved.”
Catharine Dowdney from First4Adopton added: “As part of the process people have their support networks assessed – being part of a faith community can work in people’s favour.”
Discrimination
But Thackray responds:
“However, the slight frustration about the simplicity of this message is that it almost implies that people of faith have just been feeling paranoid, that any sense of discrimination in the adoption system has been a figment of their imagination.
“But this is just not the case. A Christian friend of mine recently adopted a two-year-old child and found the process wasn’t as straightforward for religious people as the new campaign suggests.”