A Roma couple from Slovakia who are devout Roman Catholics have been branded bigots by social workers for objecting to a gay couple adopting their youngest children – two boys aged one and four.
President of the Family Division Sir James Munby has upheld the decision to allow the gay couple to adopt the children – despite their biological parents’ protests that the adoption would “humiliate” the children and deprive them of their natural heritage.
The Slovak Roma family at the centre of the case have said that the court’s decision to allow a non-Roma, gay couple to adopt their sons amounts to “social engineering”. The couple had asked that the children be placed with a Roman Catholic couple.
Sir James Munby has condemned social workers in Maidstone in Kent for condemning the children’s parents as bigots – but said that the welfare of the children outweighed the impact it would have on their Roma identity.
“It was, in my view, unfortunate that the local authority should have referred at one stage in the proceedings to the parents’ views on homosexuality in such a way as to suggest that they are bigoted. The label is unnecessary and hurtful,” he said.
Sir James has called for more openness and transparency in the Family Division, where rulings are often shrouded in secrecy, with the identity of those at the centre of care proceedings and Court of Protection cases remaining anonymous.
The judge presiding over a hearing can at their discretion name the Local Authority involved in care proceedings, however.
Social workers are currently being encouraged to place children with adoptive parents in contravention of the long-standing policy of matching children with families of the same cultural background – it is hoped placing children from ethnic minority backgrounds with stable families from a different culture will help speed up the adoption process for many children.
Last year, the family at the centre of the case was housed in a four-bed home by a charity in Kent, but four of their children were taken into care by social services, after social workers claimed that the children were not going to school or receiving medical care. It was also alleged that the parents had not ensured one of the youngest boys was not exposed to cigarette smoke.
However, the Daily Mail reports that the parents said in a statement read to the High Court that the lifestyle of the gay couple adopting their children went against the family’s Roma culture and lifestyle – adding that when the children grow up and discover the “huge differences” between their adoptive parents’ lifestyle and their Roma culture and Catholic faith, it was likely to cause them “great upset”.
“The children will not be able to be brought up in the Catholic faith because of the conflicts between Catholicism and homosexuality,” the family’s statement read.
The couple added that homosexuality is not recognised in the Roma community:
“Having Roma children live with homosexuals or being adopted by them would be found to be humiliating.”
“This is social engineering – and is a conscious and deliberate effort by Kent County Council to transform our children from Slovak Roma children to English middle-class children.”
The Family Court in Canterbury will finally decide on the future of the children. A spokesman from Kent County Council said:
”We are pleased that the court has recognised that... our paramount consideration has been the children’s long-term welfare.”
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