Six states have now passed laws that ban unmarried couples from being foster or adoptive parents. Arkansas is the latest state to do so; in November, voters approved the law by almost 57 percent. In Kentucky, a similar bill was introduced in the state Senate in March. It didn’t go anywhere, but its supporters said they’d try again next year.

People who support these laws say that the laws will protect children and make sure they end up in stable, safe homes. But other people are saying that the real motive of the laws is to prevent unmarried people who live together—especially gay people—from becoming foster and adoptive parents. (Gay marriage is illegal in most states.)

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I think these laws are shameful. They are not taking the child’s point of view into account. There are over half a million kids in foster care in this country, and over 130,000 of them are awaiting adoption. With the economy as bad as it is, things could get worse. The number of abused and neglected kids usually goes up during bad times, when families are under more stress.

There’s already a shortage of good foster parents, so good, caring people shouldn’t be prevented from becoming foster parents just because they aren’t—or can’t get—married.

And kids won’t only be taken away from gay foster families; they’ll be taken away from any household where the foster parents aren’t married. This could happen even within your own biological family. Just imagine you’re in kinship care with your grandmother, but she and her boyfriend aren’t married, so you have to leave her house and go into a foster home. I lived with my grandmother when I was little, and I couldn’t imagine being taken from her and placed with a stranger.

I believe that if people would take their minds off of politics for just a minute, this world would be a better, more comfortable place for foster children. Next time a state considers a law like this, I believe there should be a vote from the kids to find out how we feel.

—Jamell Bodrick