Examining the Effects of Antidiscrimination Laws on Children in the Foster Care and Adoption Systems

64 Pages Posted: 2 Mar 2022 Last revised: 9 Feb 2023

See all articles by Netta Barak Corren

Netta Barak Corren

Harvard Law School; University of Pennsylvania - Carey Law School; Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Yoav Kan-Tor

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering

Nelson Tebbe

Cornell Law School

Date Written: February 25, 2022

Abstract

How are children affected when states prohibit child welfare agencies from discriminating against same-sex couples who wish to foster or adopt? This question stands at the heart of a debate between governments that seek to impose such anti- discrimination requirements and child welfare agencies that challenge them on reli- gious freedom grounds. Yet until now there has been no reliable evidence on whether and how antidiscrimination rules for these agencies impact children. We have conducted the first nationwide study of how child outcomes vary when states adopt such antidiscrimination rules for child welfare agencies. Analyzing 20 years of child welfare data (2000–2019), we estimate that state antidiscrimination rules both (1) modestly increase children’s success at finding foster and permanent homes, and (2) greatly reduce the average time to place children in such homes. These effects vary among subgroups, such that children who are most likely to find a home are generally not affected by state antidiscrimination requirements, whereas children who are least likely to find a home (primarily older children and children with various disabilities) benefit substantially from antidiscrimination measures. We estimate that the effect of antidiscrimination rules is equivalent to 15,525 additional children finding permanent homes and 360,000 additional children finding foster homes, nationwide, over a period of 20 years. Overall, the project offers two key contributions: First, it provides empirical grounding for some of the most heated constitutional and political battles of the culture wars. Second, it advances empiri- cal legal studies by bringing machine learning causal inference to law.

Keywords: child welfare, culture wars, conflicts of rights, LGBTQ equality, sexual orientation discrimination, religious freedom, religious exemptions, Fulton, machine learning, random forest, empirical legal studies

JEL Classification: H53, I38, J16, C63, K00, K32, K36, K30

Suggested Citation

Barak Corren, Netta and Kan-Tor, Yoav and Tebbe, Nelson, Examining the Effects of Antidiscrimination Laws on Children in the Foster Care and Adoption Systems (February 25, 2022). Hebrew University of Jerusalem Legal Research Paper No. 22-7, Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, 2022; 19: 1003-1066, Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 23-06, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4044034 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4044034

Netta Barak Corren (Contact Author)

Harvard Law School ( email )

1875 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

University of Pennsylvania - Carey Law School ( email )

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Hebrew University of Jerusalem ( email )

Mount Scopus
Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91905
Israel

Yoav Kan-Tor

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering ( email )

Israel

Nelson Tebbe

Cornell Law School ( email )

Myron Taylor Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853
United States
(607) 255-3506 (Phone)

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