Arkansas already has three times as many children needing foster care and adoption than it has available families to take them in. President Clinton spoke strongly against the amendment. However, hate prevailed.

But conservatives mounted a grass-roots campaign, mainly through church groups, that framed the state’s case-by-case approach to adoption requests as an affront to traditional family values. "We believe that the best place for a child to grow up is in a stable home with a married mother and father," said Jerry Cox, president of Family Council Action Committee, which obtained 95,000 signatures to place the proposal on state ballots. "But we also believe in blunting a gay agenda that we see at work in other states with regard to marriage and adoption issues."

This initiative was written because the Arkansas supreme court threw out a ban on fostering and adoption by gay couples in 2006. In 2006, the court unanimously rejectedthe homophobic justifications for discrimination made by the Arkansas government.

Pointing to the findings of a lower court that overturned the ban, the Court criticized the Child Welfare Agency Review Board’s reasons for enacting the regulation, writing, "These facts demonstrate that there is no correlation between the health, welfare, and safety of foster children and the blanket exclusion of any individual who is a homosexual or who resides in a household with a homosexual."

The ACLU won the battle in 2006. The ACLU deserves our support.

The usage of the term "sexual partner outside of marriage" is particularly egregious because the state is put in the position of investigating the private lives of people who reside together. I expect this initiative will be fought in the courts, but the ACLU has not indicated its position yet.

Here is the full text of the initiative. All caps in the title are from the original text.

AN ACT PROVIDING THAT AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS

COHABITING OUTSIDE OF A VALID MARRIAGE MAY NOT ADOPT OR BE A FOSTER PARENT OF A CHILD LESS THAN EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD

Ballot Title

A PROPOSED ACT PROVIDING THAT A MINOR MAY NOT BE ADOPTED OR PLACED IN A FOSTER HOME IF THE INDIVIDUAL SEEKING TO ADOPT OR TO SERVE AS A FOSTER PARENT IS COHABITING WITH A SEXUAL PARTNER OUTSIDE OF A MARRIAGE WHICH IS VALID UNDER THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THIS STATE; STATING THAT THE FOREGOING PROHIBITION APPLIES EQUALLY TO COHABITING OPPOSITE-SEX AND SAME-SEX INDIVIDUALS; STATING THAT THE ACT WILL NOT AFFECT THE GUARDIANSHIP OF MINORS; DEFINING "MINOR" TO MEAN AN INDIVIDUAL UNDER THE AGE OF EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS; STATING THAT THE PUBLIC POLICY OF THE STATE IS TO FAVOR MARRIAGE, AS DEFINED BY THE CONSTITUTION AND LAWS OF THIS STATE, OVER UNMARRIED COHABITATION WITH REGARD TO ADOPTION AND FOSTER CARE; FINDING AND DECLARING ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE

OF THE STATE THAT IT IS IN THE BEST INTEREST OF CHILDREN IN NEED OF ADOPTION OR FOSTER CARE TO BE REARED IN HOMES IN WHICH ADOPTIVE OR FOSTER PARENTS ARE NOT COHABITING OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE; PROVIDING THAT THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES SHALL PROMULGATE REGULATIONS CONSISTENT WITH THE ACT; AND PROVIDING THAT THE ACT APPLIES PROSPECTIVELY BEGINNING ON JANUARY 1, 2009.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

Section 1: Adoption and foster care of minors.

(a) A minor may not be adopted or placed in a foster home if the individual seeking to adopt or to serve as a foster parent is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of a marriage which is valid under the constitution and laws of this state.

(b) The prohibition of this section applies equally to cohabiting opposite-sex and same-sex individuals.

Section 2: Guardianship of minors.

This act will not affect the guardianship of minors.

Section 3: Definition.

As used in this act, "minor" means an individual under the age of eighteen (18) years.

Section 4: Public policy.

The public policy of the state is to favor marriage, as defined by the constitution and laws of this state, over unmarried cohabitation with regard to adoption and foster care.

Section 5: Finding and declaration.

The people of Arkansas find and declare that it is in the best interest of children in need of adoption or foster care to be reared in homes in which adoptive or foster parents are not cohabiting outside of marriage.

Section 6: Regulations:

The Director of the Department of Human Services, or the successor agency or agencies responsible for adoption and foster care, shall promulgate regulations consistent with this act.

Section 7: Prospective application and effective date.

This act applies prospectively beginning on January 1, 2009.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the official seal of the Office of the Secretary of Sate on this the 19th day of November, 2007.

Hat tip to socialist butterfly who diaried this topic earlier.