The new ABC Family drama The Fosters is about a "new kind of family," as the channel's tag line says. The show features a multiethnic lesbian couple that has a mixed family of foster and biological children. The Fosters will hopefully shed some light on the issue of LGBT parents bringing foster children into their homes and broaden the definition of a family.
The Fosters captures the complexity of being a unique family with plenty of drama between the troubled foster child (Maia Mitchell) and the parents (Teri Polo and Sherri Saum). Even though there is a lot of tension between the teen and the parents, Polo and Saum are the stable and calming leaders of the family. Although the family is unconventional, the Fosters are shown as just a typical family battling typical teen issues like lying and keeping secrets. The drama is able to deal with homophobia from an ex-husband and other issues with heartfelt emotion.
Executive producer Jennifer Lopez said in an interview with the Associated Press, "You can't keep spoon-feeding the idea of what the perfect family is. It just doesn't exist." Families have changed from the old-fashioned nuclear family ideal of the 1950s. A study by UCLA shows that 6 million U.S families are headed by LGBT parents and only about 14 percent of foster children have LGBT parents.
Only a handful of states expressly allows gay adoption/foster care while there is more ambiguity in many other states. There are an estimated 400,000 children entering, in or exiting the foster care system, according to a 2011 Child Welfare Information Gateway study. Those children could find loving homes in same-sex families. While there is rightly much focus on marriage equality, laws have to be changed to allow more adoption equality as well.
LGBT parents are not only caring, but more open-minded when it comes to adoption and foster care. They adopt children that are often ignored, like older, minority, and special needs children. Countless studies, including a recent Australian study from the University of Melbourne, have shown that children of gay parents are just as well-adjusted as kids with heterosexual parents. They even get along better with their parents, undoubtedly because of more open communication with children and encouraging their children to be themselves.
The Fosters could be the type of show to bring a cultural shift to acceptance of LGBT parents. Shows like Will & Grace 15 years ago and Modern Family today have helped bring gay people into people's living rooms and into "mainstream" acceptance. TV has a way of personalizing the experiences of diverse groups of people. Showing LGBT parents as just ordinary parents will continue to help their causes in the court of public opinion and in legal courts. The show's target audience of teenagers could bring about legislative change when they reach voting age.
The Fosters has had a growing audience since its recent debut, even though the show has caused controversy among the usual right-wing groups, like One Million Moms. However, the controversy has been ignored by the already devoted fans of the show. A more important measure of its success with its young viewers is how popular the show is on Twitter. Millennials are the most open-minded generation because they have been exposed to diverse images of families and have unique families themselves. Young people can be the key to moving progress forward in adoption equality.
There is already a bit of a shift in attitudes toward LGBT parents. New York City recently launched a public service campaign to encourage gay people to become foster parents to offer a safe space for LGBT children. The campaigns reassure the parents that they won't face discrimination when trying to provide a home for children. LGBT parents need all the support and resources they can get to be the best parents they can be. Shows like The Fosters demonstrate that the most important thing for a child is not a perfect family, but a loving one.
