“How is this ok?”
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Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Coalition (HRC), a homosexual lobby group, called the ruling “sickening…outrageous, shocking, and unjust”.
The couple passed rigourous background checks, and have two other foster children. The law is being challenged in court. That kind of reasoning serves no one’s best interests and directly works against the interests of foster children, the state’s most vulnerable children. Herbert criticized “activism on the bench in any way, shape or form” and said the judge should follow the law even he doesn’t like it. LGBT civil rights groups are outraged over the ruling.
That language was crossed out in Johansen’s new order.
The couple has said that they were told on Tuesday by the juvenile court judge that the little girl would be turned over to a heterosexual couple.
Maril said Peirce and Hoagland would have a strong case if they invoked the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause, which requires state laws to be applied equally to all people.
The director of Utah’s division of Child and Family Services said his agency has to comply with the judge’s ruling.
A copy of the judge’s order has not yet been made public, but a court spokeswoman confirmed its contents, the Tribune reported.
Peirce said attorneys are still working on the case. Plans for adoption, approved by the infant’s biological mother, were in place – soon, this would be a family of five.
The Utah Division of Child and Family Services has been ordered to find a new home for the child under Judge Johansen’s order.
Same-sex couples have been eligible to serve as foster parents in Utah since October of 2014 when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling to overturn the state’s definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. “All major studies on the matter show that parents’ sexual orientation is not related to a child’s mental health and social development”.
“This is the first time there has been an attempt to deprive gay foster parents of their rights to care for an adoptive child”, said Callan. “And I’m confident that’s what the team did in this situation”.
Herbert expects the case to be reviewed and said DCFS will continue to protect the safety and the welfare of the child. However, he did not provide that research when asked for it, they said.
“We love her and she loves us, and we haven’t done anything wrong”, Peirce told The Salt Lake Tribune.
For April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce the ruling on same sex marriage meant they could finally be foster parents.
The foster agency has said that it is unaware of any issues with Ms Hoagland and Ms Peirce’s performance as foster parents.
The judge, Scott Johansen, ruled November 10 that the 9-month-old girl should be removed from her same-sex foster parents and be placed with a heterosexual couple instead.
In fact, his name has been in headlines multiple times following decisions a few have deemed unfair or ridiculous.
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In 1997, he was reprimanded for slapping a 16-year old in the face at a courthouse in Price.
