Familiar fears: the social work assessment of lesbian and gay fostering and adoption applicants

Hicks, S

Abstract

This thesis considers how local authority social workers go about assessing
the suitability of lesbians and gay men to foster or adopt children. It also
asks how far a stated lesbian or gay sexuality is problematic within this
process. A constructionist approach to social enquiry is used, data being
generated by interviews with social workers, as well as a case study of a
lesbian couple’s adoption application. Dorothy Smith’s ‘institutional
ethnography’ is also employed to examine the ‘relations of ruling’ that
structure such assessments (Smith, 1987).
A continuum of assessment models is proposed in order to show the
dominance of ‘on merit’ approaches which prioritise child care skills over
sexuality issues. The thesis demonstrates the presence of arguments about
the supposed ‘risks’ to children posed by lesbians or gay men. The notion
of ‘discrimination’ in assessments is analysed, as are attempts by some
social workers to challenge discrimination, and it is argued that small-scale
anti-discriminatory measures are inadequate.
Constructions of the categories ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay’ are discussed in relation
to the ‘good carer of children’, and the thesis proposes the dominance of
two versions: the ‘good lesbian’ and the ‘maternal gay man’. The thesis
argues that the ‘on merit: prioritisation of child care skills’ model relies upon
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heteronormative ideas, and the case study looks at contested meanings
given to the category ‘lesbian’ which are also gendered and raced.
The thesis sees ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay’ as categories of knowledge, and social
work assessment as a ‘making sense’ activity in which versions of these are
produced. Such everyday practices are problematised in the thesis, and
discourse, (black) feminist and queer theories are used to analyse how the
assessment is a site for the production of knowledges about sexuality.

Citation

Hicks, S. Familiar fears: the social work assessment of lesbian and gay fostering and adoption applicants. (Thesis). University of Lancaster

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Nov 3, 2009
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 3, 2009
• Keywords: Lesbians, Gay Men, Adoption, Fostering, Social Work,; Assessment, Homosexuality.
• Award Date: Jan 1, 1998