There has been considerable recent debate regarding proposed policies that would allow foster care administrators to discriminate on the basis of the sexual orientation of the foster parent. To date, however, we know very little about the level of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the foster care system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical investigation to ask whether foster care agencies, the public, and nonprofit firms that facilitate foster care placements respond similarly to e-mails sent by fictitious same-sex and heterosexual couples who inquire about becoming foster parents. Our results suggest that, while foster care agencies respond at somewhat similar rates to gay male couples, gay female couples, and heterosexual couples, responses sent to gay males are of lower quality. Gay males receive much shorter responses that take longer to receive. Responses to gay male couples are also less likely to include essential information about the process of becoming a foster parent, such as details about informational sessions or being given an application. We do not find any evidence of differential treatment towards same-sex female couples.

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寄养机构是否歧视同性恋伴侣？函授研究的证据

关于允许寄养管理人员根据养父母的性取向进行歧视的拟议政策，最近有相当多的辩论。然而，迄今为止，我们对寄养系统中基于性取向的歧视程度知之甚少。据我们所知，这是第一次实证调查，询问寄养机构、公众和促进寄养安置的非营利公司是否对虚构的同性和异性恋夫妇发送的询问成为养父母。我们的研究结果表明，虽然寄养机构对男同性恋夫妇、女同性恋夫妇和异性恋夫妇的回复率有些相似，但发送给男同性恋者的回复质量较低。男同性恋者收到的回复要短得多，需要更长的时间才能收到。对男同性恋伴侣的回应也不太可能包括有关成为养父母过程的基本信息，例如有关信息会议或获得申请的详细信息。我们没有发现任何证据表明对同性女性伴侣的差别待遇。