---

Swedish Judge Forbids Lesbian from Adopting Partner’s Child

Says to do so would infringe on child’s right to know both biological parents

By Meg Jalsevac

STOCKHOLM, January 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Swedish judge, ruling in two separate cases, has rejected two lesbian women’s attempts to adopt their partner’s biological child.

Judge Mats Orstadius ruled that the adoption would hamper the child’s fundamental right to know both biological parents and was an attempt to avoid Swedish law that ensures that adopted children may exercise that right.  He said, “It is not acceptable to use the institution of adoption to in this way circumvent such a basic right of the child. The benefits that the child might gain from the adoption still do not warrant its approval."

The women responded that the decision was flawed and they were not trying to side-step Swedish law.  One of the women trying to adopt said, “There is no father, only a donor.  That is why I am trying to adopt.”  Both couples have said that they will appeal the ruling and are confident of a final victory because other Swedish judges have approved similar adoptions.

Sweden had previously become the fourth European country to legalize homosexual adoption in 2002 and only legalized artificial insemination for lesbians in 2005.  In both the cases at issue, the lesbian couples were legally registered under Sweden’s civil partner law and both women trying to adopt had been previously approved by the local social services.  The biological mothers had traveled to Denmark to be artificially inseminated where sperm donors may remain anonymous. 

Some conservatives agree with Justice Orstadius that the rights of the child are similarly ignored whenever the homosexual adoption process is considered.  As previously reported by LifeSiteNews.com, well-known advocate for the family, Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family has reported that children raised by homosexual parents are more likely to experience sexual confusion, become promiscuous and experiment with homosexuality themselves.  Statistics show that children raised in homes with homosexual parents are also more likely to lose a parent to AIDS, substance abuse or suicide.  

Dobson goes on to say that children raised in a stable, married, heterosexual home do better than children raised in any other type of household. They are healthier physically and emotionally, do better academically, experience less poverty and commit fewer crimes than children raised in any other family setting.

Those in favor of homosexual adoption point to recent studies which purport that there is no marked psychological or physical difference between children raised in a homosexual or heterosexual home. 

However, according to REAL Women of Canada, researchers evaluating the data of these studies have concluded that they are flawed and therefore, statistically invalid.  The researchers concluded that the studies repeatedly referred to by American, European and Canadian homosexual lobbies should not be used to influence the politics of their respective governments.

The American College of Paediatricians weighed in on the growing trend towards homosexual adoption in January 2004.  Their statement concluded: "The research literature on child- rearing by homosexual parents is limited. The environment in which children are reared is absolutely critical to their development. Given the current body of research, the American College of Paediatricians believes it is inappropriate, potentially hazardous to children and dangerously irresponsible to change the age-old prohibition on homosexual parenting, neither by adoption, foster care, nor by reproductive manipulation. This position is rooted in the best available science."

Read Related LifeSiteNews.com Coverage:

Same-Sex Parenting is Harmful to Children Says REAL Women of Canada
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/040428c.html

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY GIVES FACTS ON HOMOSEXUAL ADOPTIONS
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/02032004.html

"Same Sex Marriage Harms Children's Rights" Marriage Symposium Hears
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092110.html

 Back to Top

---

MORE NEWS: LifeSiteNews.com Home Page  Last 10 Days   Archives   Special Reports

Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.