Beckie Peirce and April Hoagland have been fostering this baby girl for about three months, Platt said, and were in court for a routine hearing when the judge issued the order.
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They had hoped to eventually adopt the 8-month-old girl.
Now, they’re in danger of losing her. “We don’t want to have activism on the bench in any way, shape or form”, said Mr Herbert. In 2012, he ordered a teenage girl who maliciously chopped off a toddler’s hair to have her own ponytail snipped off by her mother in the courtroom in order to have 150 hours taken off her community service. “It hurts me really badly because I haven’t done anything wrong”. Unless Judge Johansen vacates his order DCFS will proceed with our petition to the court of appeals.
Herbert expects the case to be reviewed and said DCFS will continue to protect the safety and the welfare of the child. Judge Johansen did not provide specifics, but he claimed to have evidence that children do better in life with heterosexual parents as opposed to homosexual parents.
Utah Governor Gary Herbert, who is opposed to same-sex marriage, also weighed into the controversy, saying he was puzzled by the judge’s ruling.
After Johansen ordered the infant removed from couple Peirce and Hoagland, the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group, condemned the decision, which goes into effect in seven days.
April and Beckie are legally married and were approved as foster parents in Utah earlier this year after passing home inspections, background checks and interviews. They are also raising Peirce’s two children, ages 12 and 14, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
But Johansen has objections.
Wanting to further develop a family, they made a decision to become foster parents.
Calls made to DCFS and to a spokeswoman with the Utah Courts system for comment were not immediately returned. “While it respects the law of the land, and acknowledges the right of others to think and act differently, it does not perform or accept same-sex marriage within its membership”. The study of a few 3,000 adults found numerous differences that exist among the various family arrangements and that outcomes for children of gay and lesbian parents were “suboptimal”.
According to CNN, the case is the first major challenge to same-sex adoption rights.
However, Hoagland and Pierce said they don’t agree and feel the judge is imposing his religious beliefs on them. As attention surrounding the case has skyrocketed, the couple has been advised not to speak publicly, Peirce’s parents said. Everybody has been positive.
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“For us, it’s what’s best for the child”, he said.
