Mitch Perry
The Florida Senate Wednesday passed an adoption bill that would provide financial assistance to public employees to encourage them to adopt foster and special needs children in the Sunshine State who need parents.
Sponsored by Niceville Republican Don Gaetz, the bill survived serious opposition led by Lakeland Republican Kelli Stargel, who seized on a bill provision passed in the House that would repeal the ban on same sex adoptions. That effectively has been state law for the past five years, but has sprung up this session. That’s led to a so-called “conscience protection” bill that continues to move through the House. It would grant private adoption agencies religious protections, a feature Democrats and others call discriminatory.
“You know how many other states have that?” Gaetz asked his Senate colleagues regarding the ban on same-sex adoptions. “None.”
He went on to say that since the 3rd District Court of Appeal 2010 ruling that the 1977 ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional, it’s had no affect on faith-based adoption agencies. Gaetz said the fears from the religious right were overblown.
“Since that decision came out, not one faith-based organization has ever suggested that it was wrong and needed to be challenged,” he said, adding that amendments proposed by Stargel weren’t just unfriendly, but would kill the bill outright.
He also said her concerns that another court in Florida would overturn the DCA’s ruling were unfounded.
The legislation (SB 320) from Gaetz would provide $10,000 for public employees to adopt a special needs child, because those children often come with complicated medical conditions and demand resources. An employee adopting a child without special needs would benefit from a $5,000 state grant.
Stargel, though, was undeterred after having her first amendment denied, and proposed a second amendment that would deny sex offenders the opportunity to adopt children in Florida. Gaetz, though, said state statutes already cover that provision. That amendment went down on a voice vote.
Gaetz also said that passing any of Stargel’s amendments would kill the bill in the House. That raised the ire of Clearwater Republican Jack Latvala, who said that while he was backing Gaetz, he was outraged that the state’s upper body in the Legislature would take their marching orders from the House. That prompted Delray Beach Democrat Maria Sachs to quip that it must be a male thing to act so territorial.
