LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas is unnecessarily limiting the number of good homes for foster children by prohibiting unmarried couples living together from taking in children, several advocacy groups told state officials Thursday.

Officials with the Arkansas Department of Human Services heard testimony from advocates, urging the state to drop its policy. The restriction is being reviewed as a campaign is under way for a Nov. 4 ballot measure that would put a similar prohibition into law.

“We need more foster homes, not less,” said Dr. Jill Fussell, a pediatrician and representative of the Arkansas chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics.

An attorney with the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union noted that the restriction was enacted shortly after a judge struck down the state’s ban on gay foster parents.

“Under this directive, gay applicants are routinely denied as potential foster parents. Some have been told they were the perfect placement for special needs children, but they were not permitted to serve as foster parents because of this restriction,” said Holly Dickson, legal director for the Arkansas chapter of the ACLU.

A representative of the Arkansas Family Council, which is campaigning for the measure that would ban unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children, defended the state’s current practice and said it was aimed at placing children in the best environment.

“Of course there are exceptions, but generally speaking there is no better place for a child to be,” said John Thomas, who also identified himself as executive director of the Arkansas Physicians Resource Council.

Officials with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and other groups are tying the DHS hearing to a campaign against the item on the ballot. State policy has barred allowing unmarried couples living together from becoming foster parents since 2005, but DHS has only recently sought public comments on the rule.

The state currently doesn’t have any policy or law barring unmarried couples from adopting children.

The state’s policy was put into effect through an executive directive by DHS officials after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox struck down a state policy banning gays and lesbians from fostering children. In 2006, the state Supreme Court also struck down the rule barring gay foster parents.