These children need a mummy and a daddy…

Christian couple barred from adopting after questioning plan for gay parents

A MARRIED Christian couple claim they were barred from adopting two children after they questioned plans to place them with gay parents.

The husband and wife, who had been fostering the children for nine months, say they told a social worker they needed a ‘mummy and daddy’ rather than two fathers.

They claim they were then told their request to adopt them would not be considered because their ‘concerning’ opinions ‘could be detrimental to the long-term needs of the children’.

Campaigners say the ruling risked penalising people simply for expressing support for traditional parenting.

The wife, in her early forties, said yesterday: ‘We are Catholics, we respect everyone, we are not homophobic. We just want the best for the children.

‘They were very neglected but they have come on so much with us. We think it would harm them to be moved again. The oldest has always been told she will get a new mummy and daddy – she will not understand.’

The couple, who cannot be named, told The Sunday Times they were approved as foster carers in July last year and the children, a brother and sister, were placed with them in February.

It was initially only to be emer- gency care for 48 hours after they were taken away from their mother, a drug user, but the placement continued and the couple ‘fell in love’ with the children, both of pre-school age.

In September the couple, who have two teenage children of their own, were given a glowing report for their care and when a court ruled that month that the children should be adopted, they asked to be considered as adoptive parents.

But they say they were initially told they would not be approved because their three-bedroom home was too small. Then, in mid- October, they were told a gay couple was being put forward to adopt the children and would be visiting the family home to meet them.

The couple said they ‘expressed a degree of shock’ and the father asked if it was a ‘joke’. They told a social worker they needed a mother and a father.

But they claim the social worker became upset that they did not endorse ‘views that go against our conscience’.

According to the social worker’s case notes, the suggestion of a gay couple adopting the children was ‘very challenging for [the husband and wife]’.

Two days after they were told a gay couple were being lined up as adoptive parents, the husband and wife formally applied to adopt the children.

But the council replied saying that ‘having heard that the prospective adopters were a samesex couple you shared some opinions in relation to this proposed placement which are concerning and which would not enable the service to progress an inquiry to be assessed as prospective adopters, as these views could be detrimental to the longterm needs of the children’.

In a letter appealing against the council’s decision, the couple stressed that they had ‘not expressed homophobic views, unless Christian beliefs are, by definition, homophobic’.

They said: ‘ The decision… appears discriminatory and not related to the children’s needs. All the reports show we are a loving, caring and stable family. What more could a child need?’

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which is supporting them, said: ‘This case is about free speech and the use of public bodies to sideline Christian belief – in this case to the detriment of little children.’

The council concerned could not be reached for comment.

‘He asked if it was a joke’