Sarah Springer MD uses a lovely PG article on foster parenting to point out that many different types of families can provide loving supportive homes for children in need.

Here's the whole letter.

Parental love

What a wonderful story on Mother's Day; Benedictine Sisters Audrey Quinn and Susan Fazzini deserve the thanks and admiration of all of us for the outstanding care that they have provided for so many children over the years. The positive impacts that they have had on so many lives will make a difference for many years and generations to come. The children cared for in their home were lucky to be on the receiving end of their love and dedication. I would venture to guess that nobody reading this story would disagree.

Let us all remember their example when we think about public policies for children and teens in foster care. These two dedicated sisters show us very clearly that it is not the gender of the adults involved, or the "traditional" nature of the family, that matter to children -- it's the love and dedication of caring adults.

There are many individuals, and many state governments, that argue that children can be properly cared for only in "traditional" families, by married heterosexual adults. Many aim to restrict gay and lesbian adults from becoming foster or adoptive parents, even while we have shortages nationwide of adults willing to make such sacrifices. "It's not homophobia," they explain, "it's just that children need two married heterosexual parents." If these arguments were true, then how do they explain the success stories coming from the home of Sisters Audrey and Susan?

Thank you, Sisters Audrey and Susan, for all that you do for children, and for showing us again that real parental love can, indeed, come in many varieties.

SARAH SPRINGER, M.D.
Brighton Heights
The writer, a pediatrician with Pediatric Alliance, is chairperson of the American Academy of Pediatrics' Task Force on Foster

If you want to consider becoming a foster parent and would like information on working with a LGBTQ friendly agency, contact me.