Christian couple told they can't adopt due to their views on homosexuality.

[Shell B]

They withdrew their application after a social worker expressed concerns when they said they could not tell a child a homosexual lifestyle was acceptable.

This is a really fuzzy statement. How exactly did she express concern? What did she say to them that caused them to withdraw their application? These little questions would play a big role in my opinion of how the government handled it, so I can't really form an opinion here. There is also the fact that it doesn't say she was concerned that the child would be exposed to anti-homosexual views. It states that the worker was concerned that the applicants said they would not tell a child that being gay is okay. Odd that the applicants would be expected to tell the children that being gay is okay. Something about this seems shady to me. We're obviously not privy to something or that article just did a really poor job of quoting people.

In my experience, many parents that don't tell their kids being gay is okay are not bigots at all. It's the position of most parents to simply not talk about it if it isn't necessary. To be honest, I think the age of the couple in question is more of an issue than this.

All of this being said, none of us know how the couple expressed their distaste for homosexuality. The news is so incomplete that it infuriates me sometimes. The social worker may have asked them what they would do if they found out the child was homosexual and their response could have been, "Throw him out." I would say that the decision would have been a sound one if such was the case. However, the decision not to follow through seems to be that of the potential foster parents. They had already withdrawn before the court case. From there, they weren't reopening the foster application, from what I can see. They were petitioning the courts on something regarding religious rights. Of course, the article doesn't state the full nature of the court case and why it even went that far, considering they had already dropped their application.

Now, foster parenting in the United States is a highly abused system of get the kid, get paid. So, my opinions on screening foster parents are based on how poorly the system is run here and therefore, cannot apply to foster parenting in the UK. I do think that foster parents should be very careful what they teach foster children because they are not providing a permanent home. If the child later gets a permanent home, those teachings could conflict and confuse the child. Do I think the government should control this? No. For many reasons. Not the least of which being that it would be impossible to facilitate without wasting already low funds and further displacing children. As for permanent adoption, in the U.S., and adopted child is legally the same as a biological child. You have the same rights to make choices regarding the child's medical care, schooling and religious beliefs. If you abuse the child, then the state has a say. Being a stepparent, I don't have the same rights as a biological or adoptive parent. My rights are even looser given that my "marriage" is mostly for his benefit. Nonetheless, I would flip my shit if the state tried to tell me what to teach my child regarding religion.