CHARLESTON, W.V. — The Alliance Defense Fund and the Family Policy Council of West Virginia submitted a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals asking the court to place a 14-month-old foster child with a married family. The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources had temporarily placed the child with a same-sex couple, but that couple now claims that their desire to adopt the child is more important than the department's effort to place the child in a family with a mom and dad as state law requires.
"There's no legitimate reason to invent exceptions to this law," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Brian Raum. "Any exception ultimately undermines what's best for the baby and children in general. The law is designed to ensure that children are placed in homes with a married mom and dad whenever possible. In this instance, it's possible."
After the child's mother had her parental rights terminated due to substance abuse problems and because the whereabouts of the father were unknown, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources temporarily placed the child with a same-sex female couple. The child's court-appointed guardian filed a motion that it was in the young girl's best interests to be placed in a home with a mother and father. A Fayette County Circuit Court judge granted the motion.
The same-sex couple appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, which ordered the child to be returned to the couple pending a decision from the court.
A copy of the brief submitted to the court in
Kutil v. Blake is available is available at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/BGCamicus.pdf. ADF-allied attorneys David Langdon and Brad Peppo of Langdon Law assisted with the brief.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
www.telladf.org