Smokers cannot adopt children under the age of five in Portsmouth, Hants, in England, which just raised the critical age from two years to five.

Smokers cannot adopt children under the age of five in Portsmouth, Hants, in England, which just raised the critical age from two years to five. In another recent development, a childless couple has been banned from adopting because he smokes, and they will not be permitted to adopt a child under the age of two until he quits smoking for six months and provides medical documentation that he is now no longer a smoker. "This is just the latest step in a growing movement to protect the most vulnerable and most defenseless victims of tobacco smoke pollution," says public interest lawyer John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). For similar reasons judges in more than half our states (USA) -- and a few in foreign countries -- have recognized that smoking around a child can be not only dangerous but deadly, and have ruled that smoking around a child can be grounds for losing custody. Similarly, more than a dozen states have ruled -- or are in the process of issuing rules -- prohibiting smoking in the presence of foster children, and two states and several cities have banned smoking in cars when any children are present. "Smoking kills thousands of children every year (largely from respiratory infections), is also a major factor in SIDS, and causes millions of medical problems in kids each year ranging from asthmatic attacks (and new cases of asthma) to ear aches, so protecting young children from tobacco smoke is long overdue," says Banzhaf. "A growing number of people consider smoking around children to be the most prevalent and dangerous form of child abuse, so it is not surprising that a adoption agency would want to protect their wards, to whom they owe both a legal (fiduciary) duty and a moral obligation." In a situation where a smoker seeking to adopt claims that he or she does not smoke in the home, there may be no way to independently confirm that, and to make sure that there are never any exceptions -- e.g., when the weather is very cold, when the smoker is too ill to go outdoors, etc. So it may not be unreasonable for the government or a social welfare agency to adopt a rule against permitting adoptions where one or both prospective parents smokes, and therefore is probably addicted to nicotine. For similar reasons, a welfare agency might not wish to place a child with someone with a history of addiction to alcohol or illegal drugs, even if he promises to change his behavior as a condition of becoming an adoptive parent. Otherwise the health and perhaps even the life of a child could be put at risk, especially since there is no way an agency could possibly monitor for -- much less prevent -- any smoking around a child by a new parent who is already a smoker. The same problem would also apply to anyone with a history of alcohol or drug addiction. Moreover, if a violation occurred once the child had been placed for adoption, or if the smoker simply decided to change his practice and to begin smoking within the family home once the adoption became final, it might be very difficult as well as expensive for the social welfare agency to then try remove the child from the home. "If a natural father or mother of a child can lose custody by endangering the welfare of a child by smoking in his presence, it should not be surprising that smoking can be a barrier to an adoption; i.e., where -- unlike the situation with a natural child -- there is no biological connection between the adults and the child up for adoption, and no bond has yet been created," says Banzhaf. If, as this father claims, he is "desperate" to adopt a child, he should be willing to quit smoking, argues Banzhaf. Many people spend thousands of dollars to adopt, and may be required to make other significant changes in their lifestyles, notes Banzhaf. If the father continues to smoke, the child is also substantially more likely to become a smoker even if the father never smokes in his presence, and the child is also substantially more likely to lose his father prematurely. Written by: PROFESSOR JOHN F. BANZHAF III Executive Director and Chief Counsel Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) 2013 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20006, USA

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