It is standard practice for adoption agencies to ask about pornography usage during the home study. In fact, these questions are part of the SAFE home study questionnaire, and also the Prepare-Enrich questionnaire. Why is pornography usage relevant to a home study? And why does Nightlight ask families to abstain from its usage, and to seek counseling if it has been a problem?
Though the research is abundant, the definitive study on pornography is the “Meese report” commissioned by the attorney General and delivered to congress in 1986. James Dobson, from Focus on the Family, was a key member of this commission. The pertinent pages are 321-324 (see below).
The findings are:
- Pornography causes people to view women as inferior and as objects for men
- Pornography is produced by criminal organizations
- Pornography usage is associated with violent behavior
- The actors in pornography are victims of sex trafficking (see p. 354)
- Pornography causes men to misunderstand that “no” means “yes” since this is a common theme
- The instance of pornography that is non-violent and non-degrading is a very small percentage of the material produced
https://epublications.marquette.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2396&context=lnq
The home study process is an invitation to families to come to the healthiest place possible, as they prepare to take in an adopted child.
Daniel Nehrbass, President