A judge in Utah ruled this week that a lesbian couple's foster child should removed from their home because the 1-year-old would be better off with a heterosexual couple instead.
Beckie Peirce, 34, and April Hoagland, 38, a married as same-sex couple who got licensed to serve as foster parents earlier this year, have been taking care of the foster child for three months as the state works on
terminating the biological mother's parental rights, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
So the women were surprised when Seventh District Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen ruled Wednesday to remove the toddler from their home, where they are also raising Peirce's biological children, ages 12 and 14.
“I was kind of caught off guard because I didn’t think anything like that would
happen anymore,” Hoagland told KUTV. “It’s not fair, and it’s not right, and it hurts me really badly because I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Peirce and Hoagland, who have the support of the child's biological mother, had to undergo background checks, home inspections, and Division of Child and Family Services interviews before they were awarded foster custody of the girl.
But Johansen reportedly told the couple there was research that showed that children raised by heterosexual parents are better off than those raised by same-sex couples.
No further details were offered even though attorneys for the Utah DCFS and the Guardian Ad Litem Office assigned to represent the child asked, Hoagland and Peirce told The Tribune.
Brent Platt, director of Utah's Division of Child and Family Services, told KUTV that caseworkers must comply with the judge's order but said he has not yet seen the order in this specific case.
He conceded, though, that Utah law does not prohibit legally married couples from serving as foster parents, and he said he does not know of any other judge objecting to placing foster children with same-sex couples.
"For us, it's what's best for the child," Platt said to the television station. "Any loving couple if they are legally married, and meet the requirements, we want them to be involved."
"We have a lot of support," Peirce told the Tribune. "DCFS 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."
By Wednesday night, the story had reached the national spotlight, with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton offering up her opinion on Twitter:
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