HRC celebrates National Adoption Month

[rug]

(Editor's note: The following post is part of HRC’s celebration of National Adoption Month and comes from Garry Bevel, Director of the Commission on Youth-at-Risk at the American Bar Association, and a member of the All Children – All Families national advisory council.)



Garry Bevel - HRC Blog November 13th, 2013

We snicker, but children are our future and an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

As LGBT people and allies fighting for full legal equality, we want a future full of young LGBTQ people happy and healthy enough to take advantage of expanded legal rights like marriage equality, right? We want a generation of leaders who continue the march for inclusion, workplace protection, and freedom of expression, right? Then we have to start investing in them now.

LGBTQ youth make up 5-10% of the overall youth population and yet 20-40% of the homeless youth population.

LGBTQ youth are also overrepresented in the child welfare system, and many of these youth have been abandoned or mistreated by their families because they are LGBTQ. 30% of LGBTQ youth reported suffering physical violence at the hands of a family member after coming out. LGBTQ youth from a rejecting home are nearly 9X more likely to attempt suicide than their LGBT peers from supporting homes.

http://sdgln.com/causes/2013/11/13/hrc-celebrating-national-adoption-month#sthash.NZyTYHLc.dpbs

http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/celebrating-national-adoption-month1

[bananas]

1. Some famous orphans: Aristotle, Saint Nicholas, Bertrand Russell, Nelson Mandela, Eleanor Roosevelt

Longer list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orphans_and_foundlings