Is cruelty to children a family value?

The Family Research Council seems to think so.

Do you think that any of the conservatives who demanded an end to the policy of placing black children for adoption only in black families, on the grounds that it was cruel to leave children in foster care when there were adoptive homes available, will issue similar protests about the success of the “family values” homophobes in keeping any children from being placed with same-sex couples?

Me neither.

Footnote Looks as if all those eeeeeevil black social workers might have had a point after all: black kids adopted by white families have more problems than black kids adopted into black famililes, though presumably fewer than kids left in foster care. So there are two known differences between transracial adoptions and adoptions by same-sex couples: transracial adoptions have, and same-sex-couple adoptions do not have, demonstrable problems attached to them, and while transracial adoptions are mandated by Federal law same-sex-couple adoptions are now banned in at least two states.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com