Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Do Foster Care Agencies Discriminate Against Gay Couples? Evidence From A Correspondence Study, Mattie Mackenzie-Oiu, David Schwegman, Leonard M. Lopoo

Center for Policy Research

There has been considerable recent debate regarding proposed policies that would allow foster care administrators to discriminate on the basis of the sexual orientation of the foster parent. To date, however, we know very little about the level of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the foster care system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation to ask whether foster care agencies, the public and nonprofit firms that facilitate foster care placements, respond similarly to emails sent by fictitious same-sex and heterosexual couples who inquire about becoming foster parents. Our results suggest that …