Judge Removes Child From Lesbian Parents

[ccharles000]

http://www.365gay.com/news/judge-removes-child-from-lesbian-parents/

(Charleston, West Virginia) The West Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a lesbian couple’s appeal of a lower court ruling that removed a child they had reared from birth because the judge wanted the child placed with a married opposite-sex couple.

Fayette Circuit Judge Paul Blake originally agreed to allow Kathyrn Kutil and Cheryl Hess to be foster parents for the infant girl, following a positive assessment by the Department of Health and Human Resources.

Court records show that the little girl was born to a drug addicted mother and the baby had had cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in her system. Shortly after birth the baby went through drug withdrawal. The father was unknown.

The Department placed the child with Kutil and Hess, who had been approved as foster parents, when it could not find any blood relatives of the mother.

But nearly a year later when the couple applied to adopt the little girl both the Department and Judge Blake balked. In his ruling Blake ordered the child removed saying the baby should be permanently placed in a home where the parents would be a married opposite-sex couple.

The ruling said that he had agreed to allow the women to foster the child because it was the best option at the time. But he never intended it to be permanent.

"I think I’ve indicated time and time again, this court’s opinion is that the best interest of a child is to be raised by a traditional family, mother and father," Blake’s ruling said.

"Now, that’s this court’s opinion as to what a typical West Virginian would feel and what the typical attitude is of the West Virginia Supreme Court, a traditional family."

[Bill McBlueState]

1. this is news

"Now, that’s this court’s opinion as to what a typical West Virginian would feel and what the typical attitude is of the West Virginia Supreme Court, a traditional family."

I thought courts were supposed to interpret the law, not guess about the attitude of a typical citizen.

[roguevalley]

14. grounds for appeal. I hope

[progressoid]

26. Hmmm...What's that called again...? Activist judges?

:grr:

[DutchLiberal]

27. I thought judges are elected in the US...

So obviously they have to think about their electorate first, and the law second.

If you don't mind me saying so, I think electing judges is the stupidest thing EVER.

[Bill McBlueState]

28. federal judges are appointed, but it varies at the state level

In West Virginia, where this case is being heard, all judges are elected.

You're right; it's pretty damn supid.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. So, I guess drug addicted single mother > healthy, productive lesbian couple in WV

[Political Tiger]

3. Seems this judge in more interested

in feeding his hate and bigotry than helping this child out.

[ZombieHorde]

4. Hetero parents are better by default, just check this part out...

was born to a drug addicted mother and the baby had had cocaine, opiates and benzodiazepines in her system. Shortly after birth the baby went through drug withdrawal. The father was unknown.

There is no way a loving lesbian couple could compete with that.

Not only that, but children raised by same sex couples may mistakenly conclude that families are about love, as opposed to arbitrary rules which in no way resemble reality.

[Flubadubya]

8. House of Horrors... current local story of hetero adoptive parents who kill child...

It was, investigators said, a house of horrors.

An East Texas woman accused of murdering her adopted 13-year-old son killed him with an array of household weapons -- beating him with a broom handle, a mop handle, a rake and a baseball bat, an affidavit filed in court by a Cass County sheriff's investigator said.

<snip>

Cynthia Hudson of Queen City, Texas, is jailed in Cass County on murder charges in the death of her adopted son, Samuel Hudson. Her husband, William, is accused of tampering with evidence.

Five other children -- who authorities said were abused by sometimes being confined in a "prayer room" without food or water and limited trips to the bathroom -- have been removed from the isolated home and placed in foster care. One child said she was confined in the "prayer room" from April to June of this year, getting bread only twice a week, according to a sibling's statement to investigators.

The affidavit said the children told of sometimes being punished by having to run laps. One said she had to put a pepper in her mouth.

<snip>

After Samuel died, the investigator said, the other children were told he had killed himself.

<snip>

http://www.ktbs.com/news/House-of-horrors-21635/

So, hetero couples will always make better adoptive parents than homosexual ones! :sarcasm:

[ZombieHorde]

9. I hope that everyone understands that my post was sarcastic.

Your post is terrifying.

[Flubadubya]

11. Of course, I know you were being very "tongue in cheek"...

but I couldn't help but think of this since it is THE leading story around here now. So horribly sad, and so sickeningly ironic in light of the OP story. Thanks for your post and comments.

[rug]

5. It will be reversed.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. What about those of us who grew up in single parent homes? Should we have been removed too?

[liberalhistorian]

7. I raised my son as a single mother and you wouldn't believe

the number of times I heard that kind of shit. It was unbelievable. As if our strong bond of love and closeness meant absolutely nothing. That even if two parents were totally cold or fucked up, it still would have been better than a strong loving caring natural mother's home. Fuckers. That will always, always piss me off.

[ZombieHorde]

10. An interesting point.

[proud patriot]

12. Disgraceful

x(

[Odin2005]

13. Where are all the conservatives compaining about this activist judge?

Oh, wait, they are "activist judges" when they give decisions they don't like. :eyes:

[woo me with science]

15. This is beyond infuriating.

Rip her away from the only parents she has ever known. Where the hell were the psychologists testifying about attachment during this trial?

[FloridaJudy]

16. Because "traditional families"

Are so successful in raising healthy, humane children. :sarcasm:

Contrast a)Bush with b)Obama.

Yeah, I know that's just one example, but clearly there are others.

Tolstoy was dead wrong.

[bertman]

17. This is a TRAVESTY!! I know several lesbian and gay couples who have raised some fine,

smart, well-adjusted, motivated, loving kids. They are as much a family as ANY other family I have ever known. Complete with the ups and downs and all the LOVE a kid could need or want.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. How sad for that poor family. :( And what a mean judge

[Chulanowa]

19. What the judge is saying...

Is that it doesn't count unless a straight man is in charge.

Homophobia = Sexism, every time.

[FloridaJudy]

20. Amen! eom

[UrbScotty]

21. Where's the compassion?

[Prophet 451]

22. How is this remotely legal?

My training is in British law, not American so maybe I'm missing something here. I can think of any number of reasons why a couple shouldn't be allowed to adopt a child even after fostering that child but the sexuality of the people involved? More to the point, how is this not illegal under discrimination statutes?

Oh, and where is the right-wing screaming about this activist judge? Oh yeah, right.....

[JI7]

23. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton etc , it's about love, not the fucking sex of the parents

i hate these people. playing with little kids lives based on their bigotry. fucking scum.

[orleans]

24. omg. now what? will they take a child away from a woman simply

because the birth mother is a lesbian and she is raising her child with her female partner rather than raising it with a man?

these assholes think they can dictate their fucked up belief systems to the rest of the world--and, sadly, sometimes they get away with it.

you know, if these freaks are going to start pulling kids out of two parent homes because the parents are gay then what the fuck is stopping them from taking a child away from a gay birth parent? a line is blurred, a line is crossed, and the next step wouldn't be that difficult with their twisted rationale of "traditional" families.

i would imagine these women in this case are devastated. my heart goes out to them.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Fuck off West Virginia! Time to remind everyone about the Lee Glynn family ...

Dozens gathered for a memorial service organized by the youngsters’ foster father to honor the memory of Katherine Lee, the mother of 15-year-old twins Shane and Patrick; Emily, 14; and Grace, 12.

(...)

Lee, a 46-year-old employee of a Venice moving and storage company, was stricken with a heart attack at the family’s North Hollywood home. Although the children quickly called 911 and Patrick followed directions from the emergency operator and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, their mother died later at UCLA Medical Center.

A family friend took in the four children until her landlord demanded that they leave by Feb. 1. The eviction order prompted a counselor at Fairfax High School, where Shane and Patrick are students, to launch a frantic campaign to find a place for the four to live before they were swept into the county’s 51,000-child foster-care system.

(...)

Within a few days, the search turned up Glynn, who heard about the children through a gay fathers support group called Pop Luck. Because the 41-year-old television writer was already adopting an 8-year-son, Iby, he was certified as a foster father. The Lee children moved immediately into his five-bedroom West Adams District home.

--http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/15/local/me-orphans15">Los Angeles Times, 2002

Defying all odds, they have remained a family.

The four Lee siblings were together again in the rambling West Adams district house they’ve come to call home. The elder three had come back from college to celebrate the 18th birthday of their youngest sister – and to celebrate their good fortune at being rescued by total strangers when they were orphaned six years ago.

(...)

“We stayed a family. That’s the most important thing. We became a strong family,” said Shane, now 21 and a junior majoring in communications at San Francisco State. “We used to be individuals. Our dad helped our bond as a family grow.”

--http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/08/local/me-orphans8">Los Angeles Times, 2007

Please check out the links for the full story.

Originally posted on DU (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3692912&mesg_id=3692912)

[SalmonChantedEvening]

29. Judge Blake's worst fear: This child will grow up with an open mind.

:grr: