Utah Judge Orders Removal of Baby From Lesbian Foster Parents
A Utah family court judge on Tuesday ordered the removal of a baby girl from her lesbian foster parents and had the child placed with heterosexual foster parents instead, citing research that foster children do better when raised by heterosexual couples.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Judge Scott Johansen told April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce, a legally married lesbian couple, that they could no longer care for the baby girl they were hoping to adopt. As a result, he argued, a social worker would collect the child in seven days and place it with a heterosexual couple.
KUTV reported that at the otherwise routine hearing in Price, Utah, Judge Johansen cited what Attorney Mandie Torgerson recalled was “a myriad” of studies, though he never provided any specifics when asked. Torgerson represents the baby’s biological mother, who supports Hoagland and Peirce’s bid to adopt the child.
Hoagland and Peirce spoke with KUTV on Wednesday, telling the local CBS affiliate that they were “shattered” because they hadn’t “done anything wrong.”
In another interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, the couple expressed confusion at the judge’s decision since everyone else involved wants them to keep the child: “[Division of Child and Family Services] wants us to have the child, the Guardian Ad Litem wants us to have the child, the mother wants us to have the child, so the only thing standing in the way is the judge.”
DCFS Director Brent Platt admitted he hadn’t seen Judge Johansen’s official order, but that his office would comply with it — pending a deeper look by the office’s attorneys.
“On the one hand, I’m not going to expect my caseworkers to violate a court order,” he told KUTV. “On the other hand, I’m not going to expect my caseworkers to violate the law.”
State law does not prevent legally married same-sex couples from serving as foster parents, and according to Platt’s interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, no other state judge has expressed the concerns suggested by Johansen.
Check out the clip above, via KUTV.
[h/t Gawker]
[Image via screengrab]
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